Information processing apparatus

ABSTRACT

Provided is an information processing apparatus that stores a plurality of programs, sequentially activates the programs in response to a user&#39;s instruction, and restricts the number of programs exceeding a predetermined number from being activated, in which the information processing apparatus displays the predetermined number of symbol images and displays the same number of symbol images as the number of programs that are already activated in a manner that is different from the other symbol images.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus forexecuting processing in response to a user's instruction, an informationprocessing method, and an information storage medium.

2. Description of the Related Art

The number of executable programs is limited due to the processing loadon an information processing apparatus such as a computer.Conventionally, every time a user gives an instruction to activate aprogram, the operating system verifies whether or not necessary memoryand other resources are available and actually activates the programonly when the necessary resources are available, or unconditionallyactivates the program to cause freezing when the necessary resources areunavailable.

Further, in a multi-window graphic user interface (GUI), a tab browser,or the like, in order to use the screen efficiently, a plurality ofdisplay target images, which represent windows, tabs, or the like, areswitched for display in response to a user's instruction. In suchinterface, there are cases where, in order to cause the user to realizethe plurality of display target images as current switching targets, asymbol image corresponding to each of the display target images as theswitching targets, such as a part of each of the display target imagesor a small image that represents each of the display target images, isdisplayed.

In the information processing apparatus described above, improvedconvenience is expected when it is possible to notify the user inadvance of whether a further program is executable or how many moreprograms are executable. Further, in the case where the display targetimages are switched for display, when there are too many display targetimages as the switching targets, it is difficult for the user to realizethe display target images as the switching targets. To address thisproblem, it is conceivable to limit the number of the display targetimages as the switching targets. In this case, improved convenience isexpected when it is possible to notify the user in advance of whether afurther display target image may be added to the switching targets orhow many more display target images may be added to the switchingtargets.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentionedproblems, and therefore has an object to provide an informationprocessing apparatus capable of notifying a user of the number ofprograms that may be activated, an information processing method, and aninformation storage medium.

Further, another object of the present invention is to provide aninformation processing apparatus capable of notifying, in a case wherethere is a limitation on the number of display target images asswitching targets, the user of the number of display target images thatmay be added to the switching targets, an information processing method,and an information storage medium.

An information processing apparatus according to the present inventionincludes: program storage means for storing a plurality of programs;activation means for sequentially activating the plurality of programsin response to a user's instruction; and symbol image display means fordisplaying a predetermined number of symbol images and displaying thesame number of symbol images as a number of the programs activated bythe activation means in a manner that is different from the other symbolimages, in which the activation means restricts a number of the programsexceeding the predetermined number from being activated.

In the information processing apparatus, when a new instruction is givento execute a program in a case where the predetermined number ofprograms are already activated, the activation means may terminateexecution of a program activated least recently of the predeterminednumber of the programs that are already activated and activate theprogram in the new instruction.

Alternatively, when a new instruction is given to execute a program in acase where the predetermined number of programs are already activated,the activation means may terminate execution of a program having theoldest timing at which the program is accessed of the predeterminednumber of the programs that are already activated and activate theprogram in the new instruction.

Further, in the information processing apparatus, the activation meansmay output, before terminating the execution of the program, a messagefor confirming the termination of the execution of the program andexecute the termination of the program based on a response given fromthe user to the message.

Further, in the information processing apparatus, the activation meansmay restrict activation of a new program when the predetermined numberof programs are already executed.

Further, an information processing method according to the presentinvention includes: an activation step of sequentially activating aplurality of programs in response to a user's instruction; and a symbolimage display step of displaying a predetermined number of symbol imagesand displaying the same number of symbol images as a number of theprograms that are already activated in a manner that is different fromthe other symbol images, in which the activation step includesrestricting a number of the programs exceeding the predetermined numberfrom being activated.

Further, an information storage medium according to the presentinvention is a computer-readable information storage medium having aprogram stored therein, the program causing a computer to function as:program storage means for storing a plurality of programs; activationmeans for sequentially activating the plurality of programs in responseto a user's instruction; and symbol image display means for displaying apredetermined number of symbol images and displaying the same number ofsymbol images as a number of the programs activated by the activationmeans in a manner that is different from the other symbol images, inwhich the activation means restricts a number of the programs exceedingthe predetermined number from being activated.

Further, another information processing apparatus according to thepresent invention includes: image display means for sequentiallydisplaying a plurality of display target images on a screen in responseto a user's instruction; image switching means for displaying, with theplurality of display target images that are already displayed by theimage display means as switching targets, an image selected from theplurality of display target images as the switching targets in responseto a user's instruction on the screen; and symbol image display meansfor displaying a predetermined number of symbol images and displayingthe same number of symbol images as a number of the display targetimages as the switching targets for the image switching means in amanner that is different from the other symbol images, in which theimage switching means restricts a number of the display target imagesexceeding the predetermined number from being set as the switchingtargets.

In the other information processing apparatus, in a case where thepredetermined number of display target images are set as the switchingtargets, when the image display means displays a new display targetimage on the screen, the image switching means may exclude, of thepredetermined number of display target images as the switching targets,a display target image displayed least recently by the image displaymeans from the switching targets.

Alternatively, in a case where the predetermined number of displaytarget images are set as the switching targets, when the image displaymeans displays a new display target image on the screen, the imageswitching means may exclude, of the predetermined number of displaytarget images as the switching targets, a display target image havingthe oldest timing at which the display target image is displayed fromthe switching targets.

Further, in the other information processing apparatus, the imageswitching means may output, before excluding the display target imagefrom the switching targets, a message for confirming the exclusion ofthe display target image from the switching targets and exclude thedisplay target image from the switching targets based on a responsegiven from the user to the message.

Further, in the other information processing apparatus, the imagedisplay means may restrict display of a new display target image that isnot a switching target when the predetermined number of display targetimages are set as the switching targets.

Further, the other information processing apparatus may further includeprogram storage means for storing a plurality of programs, in which eachof the plurality of display target images may be an image associatedwith anyone of the plurality of programs, and the image display meansmay display a display target image associated with a program selected bythe user from the plurality of programs on the screen.

Further, another information processing method according to the presentinvention includes: an image display step of sequentially displaying aplurality of display target images on a screen in response to a user'sinstruction; an image switching step of displaying, with the pluralityof display target images that are already displayed in the image displaystep as switching targets, an image selected from the plurality ofdisplay target images as the switching targets in response to a user'sinstruction on the screen; and a symbol image display step of displayinga predetermined number of symbol images and displaying the same numberof symbol images as a number of the display target images as theswitching targets for the image switching step in a manner that isdifferent from the other symbol images, in which the image switchingstep includes restricting a number of the display target imagesexceeding the predetermined number from being set as the switchingtargets.

Further, another information storage medium according to the presentinvention is a computer-readable information storage medium having aprogram stored therein, the program causing a computer to function as:image display means for sequentially displaying a plurality of displaytarget images on a screen in response to a user's instruction; imageswitching means for displaying, with the plurality of display targetimages that are already displayed by the image display means asswitching targets, an image selected from the plurality of displaytarget images as the switching targets in response to a user'sinstruction on the screen; and symbol image display means for displayinga predetermined number of symbol images and displaying the same numberof symbol images as a number of the display target images as theswitching targets for the image switching means in a manner that isdifferent from the other symbol images, in which the image switchingmeans restricts a number of the display target images exceeding thepredetermined number from being set as the switching targets.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an example of an appearance ofan information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration block diagram illustrating a configuration ofthe information processing apparatus according to the embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates a screen of the information processing apparatusaccording to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a function block diagram illustrating functions realized bythe information processing apparatus according to the embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displaying amenu image.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a program board.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a background image.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displaying aboard image.

FIG. 9A is a diagram illustrating an example of data contents stored ina selected order storage region.

FIG. 9B is a diagram illustrating another example of the data contentsstored in the selected order storage region.

FIG. 9C is a diagram illustrating still another example of the datacontents stored in the selected order storage region.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a virtual array of amenu image and board images displayed previously.

FIG. 11A is a diagram illustrating an example of how a scroll operationis performed on the board images.

FIG. 11B is a diagram illustrating another example of how the scrolloperation is performed on the board images.

FIG. 11C is a diagram illustrating an example of a state in which, as aresult of the scroll operation, a board image showing the inside of acommunication region is displayed.

FIG. 11D is a diagram illustrating still another example of how thescroll operation is performed on the board images.

FIG. 11E is a diagram illustrating still another example of how thescroll operation is performed on the board images.

FIG. 11F is a diagram illustrating still another example of how thescroll operation is performed on the board images.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displaying aboard image after an image switching operation.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayingsymbol images.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating how a display termination operation isperformed on the board image.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an example of the board image in adisplay termination restriction state.

FIG. 16A is a diagram illustrating an example of a display screen of atab browser.

FIG. 16B is a diagram illustrating a result of performing the displaytermination operation on the screen of FIG. 16A.

FIG. 17A is a diagram illustrating an example of a display screen of thetab browser.

FIG. 17B is a diagram illustrating a result of performing a displaytermination restriction operation on the screen of FIG. 17A.

FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating another example of the data contentsstored in the selected order storage region.

FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating another example of the virtual arrayof the menu image and the board images displayed previously.

FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating a display example of the symbol imagesrepresenting the board images.

FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating how the symbol images are shifted.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention is described indetail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an example of an appearance ofan information processing apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of thepresent invention. Further, FIG. 2 is a configuration block diagramillustrating a configuration of the information processing apparatus 10.As illustrated in the figures, the information processing apparatus 10includes a control unit 11, a storage unit 12, an image processing unit13, a display unit 14, a touch sensor 15, and an operation button 16.

The control unit 11 is, for example, a CPU or the like and executesvarious kinds of information processing in accordance with programsstored in the storage unit 12. A specific example of processing executedby the control unit 11 in this embodiment is described later.

The storage unit 12 is, for example, a memory element such as a randomaccess memory (RAM) or a read-only memory (ROM), a disk device, or thelike and stores the programs executed by the control unit 11 and variouskinds of data. Further, the storage unit 12 also functions as a workmemory for the control unit 11. Especially in this embodiment, theinformation processing apparatus 10 is intended to execute a pluralityof application programs AP such as a game application, and the storageunit 12 stores the application programs AP.

The image processing unit 13 includes, for example, a GPU and a framebuffer memory, and renders an image to be displayed on a screen S of thedisplay unit 14 in accordance with a rendering instruction output by thecontrol unit 11. As a specific example, the image processing unit 13includes a frame buffer memory corresponding to the screen S, and theGPU writes the image to the frame buffer memory every predetermined timein accordance with the instruction from the control unit 11. Then, theimage written to the frame buffer memory is converted into a videosignal at a predetermined timing, and displayed on the screen S.

The display unit 14 may be a variety of devices for displaying an image,such as a liquid crystal display panel and an organicelectroluminescence (EL) display panel. The display unit 14 includes thescreen S having a substantially rectangular shape as illustrated in FIG.3. Hereinafter, peripheral sides of the screen S are referred to as anupper side L1, a right side L2, a left side L3, and a lower side L4.Further, the horizontal direction of the screen S (that is, thedirection along the upper side L1 and the lower side L4) is referred toas an X-axis direction, and the direction toward the right side L2 isreferred to as a positive X-axis direction. Further, the verticaldirection of the screen S (that is, the direction along the right sideL2 and the left side L3) is referred to as a Y-axis direction, and thedirection toward the upper side L1 is referred to as a positive Y-axisdirection.

The touch sensor 15 includes a substantially rectangular detectionsurface having a shape and size corresponding to the screen S anddetects, when an object contacts on the detection surface, the contactposition of the object. The detection surface of the touch sensor 15 isprovided so as to overlap the screen S. Note that, in the following, forconvenience of description, a user brings his/her finger into contactwith the touch sensor 15 to input an operation. However, the presentinvention is not limited thereto, and the user may bring an object suchas a stylus held in his/her hand into contact with the detectionsurface. Further, it is not necessary that the touch sensor 15 detectthe position of the object only when the object contacts the detectionsurface, but the touch sensor 15 may detect the position of the objectwith respect to the detection surface when the object approaches to adetectable range on the detection surface. The touch sensor 15 may be ofany type, as long as it is a device capable of detecting the position ofthe object on the detection surface, for example, of a capacitive type,a pressure type, an optical type, or the like.

The operation button 16 is a type of operation members used by the userin conjunction with the touch sensor 15 to input an operation to theinformation processing apparatus 10. The user pushes the operationbutton 16 to input the operation to the information processing apparatus10. Note that, in FIG. 1, only one operation button 16 is illustrated,but the information processing apparatus 10 may include a plurality ofoperation buttons. The information processing apparatus 10 may furtherinclude a switch, an analog stick, or other such operation member.

In this embodiment, in order to receive an instruction operation fromthe user, the control unit 11 displays various images such as a menuimage and images relating to the application programs AP on the screenS. Then, the control unit 11 executes various types of informationprocessing using the detection result of the touch sensor 15 obtained inthe state in which the images are displayed. Specifically, the controlunit 11 uses the result of detecting the position of the finger of theuser by the touch sensor 15 to judge details of the operation input bythe user. Then, the control unit 11 executes the processingcorresponding to the details of the judged operation input, and displaysthe processing result on the screen S to present the processing resultto the user.

Next, the application programs AP stored in the storage unit 12 to beexecuted by the information processing apparatus 10 are described. Notethat, in the following, an application program AP is a program to beactivated in response to a selection made by the user in a state inwhich a menu image Im or a board image Ib to be described later isdisplayed. The information processing apparatus 10 may execute variousprograms in addition to the application programs AP.

In this embodiment, the application programs AP are classified into twotypes: full mode programs AP1 that are operated only in a full mode; andlight programs AP2 that may be operated in a mode other than the fullmode. Here, the full mode refers to a mode in which one program occupiesthe entire screen S for operation. The full mode programs AP1 areoperated in the state of the full mode during its execution, and displaythe processing result on the entire screen S. In contrast, the lightprograms AP2 display their processing results in the board image Ib tobe described later.

The storage unit 12 also stores, in association with each of theapplication programs AP, menu item image Ic representing the applicationprogram AP and a background image Iw (wallpaper image). Further, thestorage unit 12 stores, in association with each of the full modeprograms AP1, program-related images relating to the program. Theprogram-related images include an activation image to be subjected to anoperation performed by the user to activate the program. In thisembodiment, the activation image is an activation button image ILrepresenting an activation button.

Next, functions realized by the information processing apparatus 10according to this embodiment are described. FIG. 4 is a function blockdiagram illustrating the functions realized by the informationprocessing apparatus 10. As illustrated in the figure, the informationprocessing apparatus 10 functionally includes an operation receptionsection 20, a menu image display control section 21, a board imagedisplay control section 22, a selected order management section 23, animage switching section 24, a scroll control section 25, a symbol imagedisplay section 26, and a program activation section 27. These functionsare each realized by executing a program stored in the storage unit 12by the control unit 11. The program may be, for example, stored invarious types of computer-readable information storage media such as anoptical disc to be provided to the information processing apparatus 10.Alternatively, the program may be provided to the information processingapparatus 10 through a communication network such as the Internet.

The operation reception section 20 receives the instruction operationperformed by the user on the touch sensor 15 or the operation button 16.Especially in this embodiment, for example, the user brings his/herfinger on the detection surface of the touch sensor 15 or slides thefinger in a state in which the finger is in contact with the detectionsurface, to thereby input the operation to the information processingapparatus 10. Specifically, in the following, an operation in which theuser brings his/her finger in contact with one point on the detectionsurface for a short period of time is referred to as a tap operation.When the tap operation is performed, the operation reception section 20outputs a position of the tap operation (that is, the position in thedetection surface with which the user brings his/her finger intocontact). Further, an operation in which the user brings his/her fingerinto contact with one point on the detection surface and moves thefinger linearly with the position as a start point in any direction onthe detection surface before releasing the finger is referred to as aslide operation. When the slide operation is performed, the informationprocessing apparatus 10 performs various kinds of information processingin accordance with the direction in which the user moved the finger inthe operation. In other words, the slide operation is an operation forspecifying a direction on the information processing apparatus 10. Whenthe slide operation is performed in the state in which the menu image Imor the board image Ib to be described later is displayed, the operationreception section 20 determines the direction specified by the user fromthe positions of the start point and the end point. In this case, thespecified direction may be, for example, any one of four directions inthe screen S: up; down; left; and right. Alternatively, the operationreception section 20 may judge, when the slide operation is performedwith positions or a position inside a predetermined region as the startpoint and/or the endpoint in a state in which a predetermined image isdisplayed, whether or not the direction of the slide operation is in apredetermined range from the positions of the start point and the endpoint of the slide operation. The function sections to be describedbelow execute various types of information processing in accordance withthe details of the tap operation and the slide operation received by theoperation reception section 20.

The menu image display control section 21 displays the menu image Im onthe screen S at a predetermined timing, for example, at the time ofactivation of the information processing apparatus 10, or at the timewhen the user gives an instruction to display a menu. The menu image Imis an image to be presented to prompt the user to select from the menu,the image representing a plurality of menu item images Ic as targets forselection by the user. Specifically, in this embodiment, the menu imageIm is an image for prompting the user to select one of the applicationprograms AP, and each of the menu item images Ic is stored in thestorage unit 12 in association with any one of the application programsAP as described above. Note that, each of the menu item images Ic may bean icon image representing the corresponding application program AP.Further, in this embodiment, the menu item images Ic are stored inadvance in the storage unit 12. However, the menu image display controlsection 21 may generate, based on, for example, a character stringindicating a program name of each of the application programs AP, a menuitem image Ic corresponding to the application program AP.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of the screen S displayingthe menu image Im. In this figure, the menu image Im includes 10 menuitem images Ic1 to Ic10 respectively associated with the applicationprograms AP. Further, in FIG. 5, a long rectangular status bar displayregion As is provided along the upper side L1 of the screen S, and thestatus bar display region As displays a status bar. In the status bar,symbol images Is to be described later are displayed, and in addition,there may be displayed various kinds of information indicating states ofthe information processing apparatus 10 including, for example, theremaining battery and the communication connectivity, the current time,and the like. Further, a region in the screen S that displays the menuimage Im is referred to as a board display region Ab. In the example ofFIG. 5, the board display region Ab is illustrated as a region of thescreen S other than the status bar display region As. However, in a casewhere the status bar does not need to be displayed at all times, theboard display region Ab may be the entire screen S.

In a state in which the menu image Im is displayed, the user taps aposition at which any one of the menu item images Ic is displayed toperform a selection operation on the menu. In other words, the userselects any one of the menu item images Ic to give an instruction todisplay an image relating to the application program AP associated withthe selected menu item image Ic. When a tap operation is received fromthe user, the menu image display control section 21 identifies the menuitem image Ic displayed at the position in the screen S tapped by theuser. Then, the menu image display control section 21 outputsinformation identifying the application program AP associated with themenu item image Ic (here, a program ID of the application programs AP)to the board image display control section 22 and the selected ordermanagement section 23.

Note that, in the example of FIG. 5, the menu image Im is an image of asize that fits in the board display region Ab of the screen S, but themenu image Im may have a size that exceeds the board display region Ab.In this case, the user gives a scroll instruction to be described laterto scroll the menu image Im displayed in the board display region Abuntil a portion including the menu item image Ic of the menu image Imthat the user wants is displayed in the board display region Ab. Then,the selection operation is performed on the displayed menu item imagesIc. Further, details of the menu image Im may be customized by the user.Specifically, the information processing apparatus 10 may, in responseto the user's instruction, for example, add/delete the menu item imagesIc to be displayed in the menu image Im, or change arrangement positionsof the menu item images Ic in the menu image Im.

The board image display control section 22 displays, when any one of themenu item images Ic included in the menu image Im is selected by theuser in the state in which the menu image display control section 21displays the menu image Im on the screen S, image (selection targetimage) relating to the selected menu item image Ic on the screen S.Especially in this embodiment, the board image display control section22 acquires the image relating to the application programs AP associatedwith the menu item image Ic selected by the user as the selection targetimage, and displays the image on the screen S. Specifically, when aprogram ID of the application program AP selected by the user isreceived from the menu image display control section 21, the board imagedisplay control section 22 reads program-related images relating to theapplication program AP from the storage unit 12, or receives informationrelating to the application programs AP through a communication network.Note that, the board image display control section 22 may also acquirethe program-related images including the activation button image ILthrough a communication network from an external server. Then, the boardimage display control section 22 generates the selection target imageincluding the above-mentioned information relating to the applicationprograms AP. The selection target image is image showing the inside of aprogram board B. The program board B is a virtual region in which aplurality of display elements relating to the selected applicationprogram AP are arranged. Further, in the following, the selection targetimage showing the inside of the program board B is referred to as aboard image Ib. The board image Ib is displayed in the same region asthe board display region Ab in which the menu image display controlsection 21 displays the menu image Im.

The program board B may be a region of a size that fits in the boarddisplay region Ab. However, in the following, the program board B is arectangular region extending along a predetermined scroll direction(here, Y-axis direction), and sides thereof extending along the Y-axisdirection are longer than a side of the board display region Ab in thesame direction. Therefore, the board image display control section 22cannot display the entire program board B in the board display region Abat once, but displays only a partial range of the program board B as theboard image Ib in the board display region Ab. Here, the range of theprogram board B that is actually displayed on the screen S (hereinafter,referred to as display target range R) moves through the program board Balong the predetermined scroll direction (Y-axis direction) undercontrol of the scroll control section 25 to be described later. Theboard image Ib is an image showing the inside of the display targetrange R, which moves under control of the scroll control section 25, ofthe program board B. Note that, the size and the shape of the displaytarget range R correspond to the size and shape of the board displayregion Ab. Specifically, in this embodiment, the display target range Rhas a rectangular shape, and the side thereof along the Y-axis directionhas a length that is identical with the length of the sides of the boarddisplay region Ab along the Y-axis direction. On the other hand, sidesof the display target range R along the X-axis direction have a lengththat is shorter than the length of the sides of the board display regionAb along the X-axis direction by lengths of two representational imagesIn1 and In2 to be described later. Note that, the display target range Ris positioned at a predetermined position, for example, the top end ofthe program board B, when the board image display control section 22first displays the board image Ib.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of the program board Bcorresponding to the full mode program AP1 of the application programsAP. As illustrated in this figure, in this embodiment, the program boardB may include a plurality of subregions in each of which displayelements representing different kinds of information are arranged. InFIG. 6, the program board B includes two subregions: a programinformation region P1; and a communication region P2. The programinformation region P1 is a region in which information prepared by theprovider of the application program AP is presented, and has a sizecorresponding to the size of the display target range R. Further, thecommunication region P2 is a region used by users to exchangeinformation or the like.

Specifically, in the program information region P1, a program-relatedimage stored in the storage unit 12 as the display elements is arranged.Especially in the example of FIG. 6, the program information region P1includes, at the center, the activation button image IL on which theoperation of activating the application program AP is performed. Theprogram information region P1 also includes various kinds of relatedinformation relating to the application programs AP around theactivation button image IL, the related information being prepared bythe provider of the program. The related information may be stored inadvance in the storage unit 12 as the program-related image togetherwith the application program AP and the activation button image IL, ormay be information provided dynamically to the information processingapparatus 10 through a communication network such as the Internet. Inthe latter case, the storage unit 12 stores in advance information (forexample, URL or the like) indicating the provider of the relatedinformation to be included in the program information region P1 inassociation with the program. The board image display control section 22uses the information indicating the provider of the related informationto access a content distribution server prepared by the provider of theapplication program AP or the like through the communication network andacquire the related information provided by the content distributionserver. Then, the board image display control section 22 generates animage of the program information region P1 including the displayelements indicating the details of the acquired related information andthe activation button image IL stored in the storage unit 12 as a partof the program board B. This allows the provider of the applicationprogram AP to update the related information stored in the contentdistribution server as needed, to thereby distribute the up-to-daterelated information on the application program AP to the informationprocessing apparatus 10 and present such related information when theuser attempts to activate the application program AP.

Note that, the program information region P1 may include not onlyinformation unique to the application program AP corresponding to theprogram board B but also display elements having common details withprogram boards B of the other application programs AP.

The communication region P2 is a region for presenting details ofmessages regarding the application program AP posted by a plurality ofusers. Specifically, for example, the user of the information processingapparatus 10 may post a message regarding the application program AP toa predetermined communication server through a communication networksuch as the Internet. In order to realize such posting processing, theinformation processing apparatus 10 stores information (such as URL) foridentifying the communication server to which the messages are posted inthe storage unit 12 in association with the application program AP, andrefers to the information to transmit the message input by the user tothe communication server. Further, the board image display controlsection 22 accesses the communication server in generating the programboard B associated with the application program AP to acquire messageinformation posted previously regarding the application program AP.Then, the board image display control section 22 generates an image ofthe communication region P2, in which display elements representing theacquired details and senders of the messages are arranged, as a part ofthe program board B.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of the screen S displayingthe board image Ib, and illustrates an example of the board image Ib ina case where the display target range R is set at a position overlappingthe program information region P1 of the program board B illustrated inFIG. 6. In the example of the figure, the board image Ib is generated bysuperimposing display elements in the program board B on a predeterminedbackground image Iw. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of thebackground image Iw. Here, as described above, the background image Iwis stored in advance in the storage unit 12 in association with each ofthe plurality of application programs AP. In generating the board imageIb showing the inside of the program board B relating to eachapplication program AP, the background image Iw associated with theapplication program AP is used.

Further, in the state in which the board image Ib is displayed on thescreen S, an operation position guide image Ig is displayed in apredetermined region in the screen S (hereinafter, referred to asoperation target region Ac) on which the user performs a displaytermination operation and a display termination restriction operation tobe described later. The operation position guide image Ig is an imagefor guiding the user to a position of the operation target region Ac inthe screen S, and is displayed at a position corresponding to theoperation target region Ac. Note that, it is not necessary that theposition at which the operation position guide image Ig is displayedperfectly coincide with the operation target region Ac itself. In theexample of FIG. 8, the operation target region Ac is set at the upperright corner of the board display region Ab, and the operation positionguide image Ig is an image showing a state in which a part of thebackground image Iw is turned back at the position.

In the state in which the board image Ib is displayed on the screen S,the user may perform an image switching operation to switch the boardimage Ib to be displayed. Further, the user may perform a scrolloperation to move the display target range R set in the program board B,with the result that the contents to be displayed as the board image Ibmay be scrolled. Those operations are described in detail below.

Further, in the state in which the board image Ib corresponding to thefull mode program AP1 is displayed on the screen S, the user may performan operation to give an instruction to activate the full mode programAP1. Specifically, in the state in which the board image Ib includingthe activation button image IL is displayed on the screen S, the usertaps the display position of the activation button image IL to give theinstruction to activate the corresponding full mode program AP1. Whenthe activation instruction is received, the program activation section27 activates the full mode program AP1 in the full mode. This causes animage of the processing result generated by the program to be displayedon the entire screen S. In this state, when the user gives aninstruction to end the full mode through an operation of pressing theoperation button 16 or other such methods, the board image displaycontrol section 22 redisplays the board image Ib, which was displayedimmediately before the activation of the full mode program AP1. At thistime, the information processing apparatus 10 does not necessarily endthe full mode program AP1 that has been executed, but may redisplay theboard image Ib in a state in which the execution of the program istemporarily stopped. This allows the information processing apparatus 10to, when the user gives an instruction to reactivate the full modeprogram AP1 by tapping the activation button image IL again or othersuch methods, restart the execution of the program that has beentemporarily stopped.

As described above, in a case where the menu item image Ic correspondingto the full mode program AP1 is selected, the information processingapparatus 10 displays the board image Ib including the activation buttonimage IL first instead of activating the program immediately, to therebypresent various types of information on the program to the user.Further, as described below, in the state in which the board image Ib isdisplayed, the user may perform an image switching operation to give aninstruction to switch the board image Ib that has been displayed.However, there may be a case where the program operating in the fullmode receives such operation corresponding to the image switchingoperation as another operation relating to the processing of theprogram. Therefore, the information processing apparatus 10 displays, inthe case where the menu item image Ic corresponding to the full modeprogram AP1 is selected, the board image Ib first, to thereby alsoinclude the full mode program AP1, which occupies the entire screenduring execution of the processing, as an image in the images as thetargets for switching by the image switching operation.

Note that, in a case where the application program AP corresponding tothe menu item image Ic selected by the user in the state in which themenu image Im is displayed is not the full mode program AP1 but thelight program AP2, the program activation section 27 may activate thelight program AP2 immediately. In this case, the board image displaycontrol section 22 generates, instead of the program board B includingthe activation button image IL as described above, the program board Bincluding the processing result of the light program AP2, and displays apart of the program board B as the board image Ib in the board displayregion Ab. As in the case of the full mode program AP1, the programboard B generated in this case may be a rectangular region having ahorizontal width (length of the sides along the X-axis direction) thatcorresponds to a horizontal width of the board display region Ab andextending in the Y-axis direction. In particular, also for the programboard B in which the processing result of the light program AP2 isdisplayed, the horizontal width is set so as not to exceed thehorizontal width of the display target range R, which eliminates theneed to perform scroll control by which the display target range R ismoved in the horizontal direction (X-axis direction) to see the entireprogram board B. Therefore, the slide operation in the X-axis directionmay be received not as the scroll operation but as the image switchingoperation to be described later.

The selected order management section 23 manages a selected order of themenu item images Ic selected previously by the user. Specifically, theselected order management section 23 receives the program ID output bythe menu image display control section 21 when the user selects a menuitem image Ic, and sequentially stores the received program IDs in astorage region (hereinafter, referred to as selected order storageregion M) provided in the storage unit 12. This way, the program IDsidentifying the application programs AP selected previously by the userare stored in the storage unit 12 in the order selected by the user.Note that, the selected order management section 23 limits the programIDs to be stored in the selected order storage region M to apredetermined number (hereinafter, referred to as upper limit N) thathas been set in advance. Specifically, in this embodiment, the selectedorder management section 23 adds the program ID to the selected orderstorage region M in a first-in first-out manner. That is, when the usernewly selects another menu item image Ic in a state in which the userhas already selected the menu item images Ic up to the number thatcoincides with the upper limit N and the board images Ib correspondingto the N menu item images Ic have been displayed, the selected ordermanagement section 23 adds the program ID of the application program APcorresponding to the newly selected menu item image Ic to the selectedorder storage region M and, of the program IDs stored in the selectedorder storage region M, deletes the program ID stored least recently inthe selected order storage region M. Note that, in this embodiment, theupper limit N is 7.

FIGS. 9A to 9C are diagrams illustrating examples of data contentsstored in the selected order storage region M. FIG. 9A indicates thatthree application programs AP: a program APa; a program APc; and aprogram APb have already been selected by the user in this order. Then,when the user selects a program APd, a program APh, a program APf, and aprogram APg in this order, the data contents stored in the selectedorder storage region M are as illustrated in FIG. 9B. Thereafter, whenthe user selects a program APe in the state in which the menu image Imis displayed, of the N program IDs stored in the selected order storageregion M, the program ID of the program APa stored least recently in theselected order storage region M is deleted from the selected orderstorage region M, and the program ID of the program APe is added to theselected order storage region M. This results in the data contents inthe selected order storage region M illustrated in FIG. 9C.

Here, the program IDs stored in the selected order storage region M areused to determine the board images Ib as the targets for switching bythe image switching section 24 to be described later. Specifically, theboard images Ib corresponding to the program IDs stored in the selectedorder storage region M are the targets for switching by the imageswitching section 24, and the board image Ib corresponding to theprogram ID deleted from the selected order storage region M is excludedfrom the targets for switching by the image switching section 24.Therefore, when a selection for a new menu item image Ic is received inthe state in which the same number of the program IDs as the upper limitN are already stored in the selected order storage region M, the menuimage display control section 21 may output a message warning that theselection of the new menu item image Ic excludes a board image Ib fromthe targets for switching by, for example, displaying the message on thescreen S. Further, in this case, when the user gives a response to themessage to permit the exclusion of the board image Ib from the switchingtargets, the selected order management section 23 may be configured todelete the program ID from the selected order storage region M anddisplay the board image Ib corresponding to the newly selected menu itemimage Ic. Otherwise, the selected order management section 23 may beconfigured not to delete the program ID from the selected order storageregion M. In this case, the program ID corresponding to the newlyselected menu item image Ic is not added to the selected order storageregion M.

Note that, in this example, the program ID to be deleted when the newmenu item image Ic is selected is the program ID stored least recentlyin the selected order storage region M. However, the program ID to bedeleted may be determined by another method. Specifically, the selectedorder management section 23 stores the timing at which each of the boardimages, which are the targets for switching by the image switchingsection 24, was displayed most recently. That is, when display of oneboard image Ib is terminated once as a result of the image switching bythe image switching section 24, the selected order management section 23stores timing information indicating the timing in association with theboard image Ib. Thereafter, when a selection for a new menu item imageIc is received in the state in which the same number of program IDs asthe upper limit N are already stored in the selected order storageregion M, the selected order management section 23 refers to the timinginformation that has been stored to determine the board image Ib havingthe oldest timing at which the board image Ib was displayed mostrecently on the screen S, and deletes the program ID corresponding tothe determined board image Ib. Note that, in this case, when a boardimage Ib is displayed once on the screen S for a display time periodless than a predetermined time period, the selected order managementsection 23 may be configured not to update the above-mentioned timinginformation. This is because, when the display time period isexcessively short, it is possible that the user merely caused the boardimage Ib to be displayed on the screen S in the course of the imageswitching with no intention to browse the board image Ib. Note that,also in the case of determining the program ID to be deleted asdescribed above, the warning message as described above may be outputbefore actually deleting the program ID, and the program ID may bedeleted when the user gives the response for permission to the message.

The selected order management section 23 also manages, of the pluralityof program IDs stored in the selected order storage region M, pointerinformation indicating which program ID identifies the applicationprogram AP for which the board image Ib is currently being displayed onthe screen S. When a new menu item image Ic is selected by the user andaccordingly the corresponding program ID is added to the selected orderstorage region M, the selected order management section 23 updates thepointer information so as to point to the newly added program ID.Further, when the image to be displayed on the screen S is switched bythe image switching section 24 to be described later, the selected ordermanagement section 23 updates the pointer information in accordance withthe switching.

Note that, when the user performs a predetermined display terminationoperation, the board image display control section 22 terminates displayof the board image Ib that is currently being displayed. In this case,the selected order management section 23 deletes the program IDcorresponding to the board image Ib that is the target of the displaytermination processing from the selected order storage region M.Further, when the user performs a predetermined display terminationrestriction operation, the board image display control section 22 shiftsthe board image Ib that is currently being displayed to a restrictionstate in which the board image Ib does not become the target for theabove-mentioned termination processing. As illustrated in FIGS. 9A to9C, the selected order storage region M stores, in association with eachprogram ID, a flag (display termination restriction flag) indicatingwhether the board image Ib corresponding to the program ID is in thedisplay termination restriction state. When the user performs thedisplay termination restriction operation, the selected order managementsection 23 updates the display termination restriction flag associatedwith the program ID corresponding to the board image Ib that iscurrently being displayed to a value indicating that the displaytermination is restricted. The display termination processing and thedisplay termination restriction processing for the board image Ib aredescribed in detail below.

With the board images Ib already displayed by the board image displaycontrol section 22 being the switching targets, the image switchingsection 24 redisplays an image selected from the board images Ib as theswitching targets in response to the user's instruction in the boarddisplay region Ab of the screen S. Specifically, when the user performsa predetermined image switching operation, the image switching section24 selects a previously displayed board image Ib that is different fromthe board image Ib that is currently being displayed as the redisplaytarget based on the program IDs stored in the selected order storageregion M and the details of the image switching operation. Then, theimage switching section 24 instructs the board image display controlsection 22 to display the selected board image Ib as the redisplaytarget. Further in this embodiment, the images as the targets forswitching by the image switching section 24 include the menu image Im.In other words, the image switching section 24 selects, from the menuimage Im and the board images Ib corresponding to the program IDs storedin the selected order storage region M, the redisplay target image basedon the details of the image switching operation by the user. Then, whenthe menu image Im is selected as the redisplay target image, the imageswitching section 24 instructs the menu image display control section 21to redisplay the menu image Im. Note that, the board image displaycontrol section 22 may temporarily store image data of the board imagesIb displayed previously on the screen S in the storage unit 12 inpreparation for such redisplay. Alternatively, the board image displaycontrol section 22 may regenerate the board image Ib to be redisplayedevery time the instruction for redisplay is received from the imageswitching section 24.

In this embodiment, the image switching operation is an operation ofspecifying a direction along one side of the screen S. Specifically, inthe state in which the menu image Im or the board image Ib is displayed,when the user performs the slide operation to specify a direction alongthe upper side L1 and the lower side L4 of the screen S (positive X-axisdirection or negative X-axis direction), the image switching section 24receives the slide operation as the image switching operation. Then, theimage switching section 24 determines the image to be redisplayed basedon whether the specified direction is the positive X-axis direction orthe negative X-axis direction and on the stored order of the program IDsstored in the selected order storage region M.

Next, a method of determining the switching target is described indetail. When an instruction in the negative X-axis direction is given ina state in which any one of the board images Ib as the switching targetis displayed on the screen S, the image switching section 24 acquires,of the program IDs stored in the selected order storage region M, aprogram ID stored in the selected order storage region M immediatelybefore the program ID corresponding to the board image Ib that iscurrently being displayed, and selects a board image Ib corresponding tothe acquired program ID as the redisplay target. Note that, the boardimage Ib that is currently being displayed may be determined byreferring to the pointer information managed by the selected ordermanagement section 23. On the other hand, when the specified directionis the positive X-axis direction, the image switching section 24acquires the program ID stored in the selected order storage region Mimmediately after the program ID corresponding to the board image Ibthat is currently being displayed, and selects the board image Ibcorresponding to the acquired program ID as the redisplay target. Inparticular, when the instruction in the negative X-axis direction isgiven in a state in which a board image Ib corresponding to the programID stored least recently in the selected order storage region M isdisplayed, the image switching section 24 does not switch the imagebecause there is no program ID that is stored in the selected orderstorage region M before the program ID.

Further, when an instruction in the positive X-axis direction is givenin a state in which a board image Ib corresponding to the program IDstored most recently in the selected order storage region M (that is, aboard image Ib relating to the menu item image Ic selected most recentlyby the user) is displayed, the image switching section 24 selects themenu image Im as the redisplay target. Further, when an instruction inthe opposite direction (that is, an instruction in the negative X-axisdirection) is received in a state in which the menu image Im isdisplayed, the image switching section 24 sets the board image Ibcorresponding to the program ID stored most recently in the selectedorder storage region M as the redisplay target. Note that, when aninstruction in the positive X-axis direction is given in the state inwhich the menu image Im is displayed, the image switching section 24does not switch the image.

According to the method of selecting the switching target describedabove, the information processing apparatus 10 may provide an effectthat the menu image Im and the board images Ib that have been previouslydisplayed are arranged in the horizontal direction of the screen S inthe order selected by the user. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating anexample of a virtual array of the menu image Im and the board images Ib,which corresponds to the contents stored in the selected order storageregion M exemplified in FIG. 9A. In the above-mentioned switchingprocedure, in the virtual array, the menu image Im is always at the leftend, and the board images Ib corresponding to the menu item images Icthat have been selected by the user are arranged in the horizontaldirection in the order corresponding to the order in which the userselected the menu item images Ic. Specifically, in FIG. 10, a boardimage Iba corresponding to the program APa, a board image Ibccorresponding to the program APc, a board image Ibb corresponding to theprogram APb, and the menu image Im are arranged in this order from theright as seen from the user, in accordance with the selected order ofthe user. Note that, when the user newly selects a menu item image Ic inthe menu image Im, the board image Ib corresponding to the menu itemimage Ic is inserted next to the menu image Im on the right side. Theuser performs the slide operation in the right direction or the leftdirection in the state in which the images are displayed to intuitivelygive an instruction to switch the image to be displayed in the boarddisplay region Ab as when the images that are being displayed are slidin the direction of the operation.

In order to further facilitate such intuitive operation, the board imagedisplay control section 22 displays, at the time of displaying the boardimage Ib in the board display region Ab, two representational images Inin the board display region Ab along with the board image Ib. In thiscase, the representational images In are images that represent otherboard images Ib or the menu image Im to be displayed after the switchingwhen the instruction for the image switching is given in the state inwhich the board image Ib is displayed.

Specifically, the board image display control section 22 displays a longrectangular first representational image In1 in the board display regionAb along the right side L2 of the screen S. The first representationalimage In1 is an image representing the board image Ib to be redisplayedwhen the slide operation in the negative X-axis direction is performed.The first representational image In1 may be a part of the board image Ibthat is represented by the first representational image In1. Morespecifically, the image may be a left end portion of the representedboard image Ib. In this case, the board image display control section 22refers to the contents stored in the selected order storage region M todetermine the board image Ib to be redisplayed when the slide operationin the negative X-axis direction is performed, and then clips the leftend region of the board image Ib. Then, the clipped region is displayedas the first representational image In1 in the board display region Ab.Note that, the board image display control section 22 may clip, insteadof the board image Ib itself, which renders the display elements in theprogram board B, the background image Iw to be included in the boardimage Ib to be redisplayed. Such processing may also display a part ofthe board image Ib as the first representational image In1.

Similarly, the board image display control section 22 displays a longrectangular second representational image In2 in the board displayregion Ab along the left side L3 of the screen S. The secondrepresentational image In2 is an image representing another board imageIb or the menu image Im to be redisplayed when the slide operation inthe positive X-axis direction is performed. As with the firstrepresentational image In1, the second representational image In2 may bea part of the board image Ib or the menu image Im that is represented bythe second representational image In2 (more specifically, right endportion of the represented image). In this case, the board image displaycontrol section 22 may display the second representational image In2 inthe board display region Ab by determining, as in the case of the firstrepresentational image In1 described above, the image after theswitching, and then performing clipping processing.

As described above, the information processing apparatus 10 can guidethe user to the image to be displayed when the image switching operationis performed by displaying the representational image In along the rightside L2 or the left side L3, which is a side connected to the upper sideL1 and the lower side L4 of the screen S (that is, sides along thedirection in which the user performs the image switching operation). Forexample, in a case where the contents stored in the selected orderstorage region M are as illustrated in FIG. 9A and the board image Ibbcorresponding to the program APb is displayed in the board displayregion Ab, the board image display control section 22 displays an imagerepresenting the board image Ibc and an image representing the menuimage Im as the first representational image In1 and the secondrepresentational image In2, respectively. As a result, an imagecorresponding to the rectangular region enclosed by the chain line ofFIG. 10 is displayed in the board display region Ab. Therefore, itbecomes easier for the user to visualize the array in which the imagesare virtually arranged as in FIG. 10.

Further, as with the case where the board image display control section22 displays the board image Ib, when the menu image Im is displayed, themenu image display control section 21 may display the firstrepresentational image In1 representing the board image Ib correspondingto the menu item image Ic selected most recently along the right side L2of the screen S.

Further, the board image display control section 22 may display, whenthe board image Ib corresponding to the program ID stored least recentlyof the program IDs stored in the selected order storage region M isdisplayed, a predetermined background image along the right side L2 ofthe screen S instead of the first representational image In1. Then, theuse may easily understand that, in the state in which the board image Ibis displayed, the slide operation in the negative X-axis directioncannot be performed to switch the image.

When the user performs an operation to give an instruction to scroll inthe state in which the board image Ib is displayed, the scroll controlsection 25 performs scroll control in accordance with the operation.Specifically, in this embodiment, the direction of the scrollinstruction is a direction along the Y axis, and in the state in whichthe board image Ib is displayed, the user performs the slide operationin the positive Y-axis direction or a negative Y-axis direction to givethe instruction to scroll. Specifically, the scroll control section 25moves the display target range R in the negative Y-axis direction in theprogram board B when the slide operation in the positive Y-axisdirection is received, and the scroll control section 25 moves thedisplay target range R in the positive Y-axis direction when the slideoperation in the negative Y-axis direction is received. As a result, asin the case of the image switching operation, the user may scroll theimage that is being displayed as though the image displayed in the boarddisplay region Ab is slid in the direction of the slide operation. As aresult of the scroll instruction, an image showing the display elementsin the program board B, which were not displayed at the time when theboard image Ib was first displayed, is displayed on the screen S as animage relating to the board image Ib that has been displayed first.

Further, the scroll control section 25 changes the amount by which thedisplay target range R is moved in response to the scroll instruction bythe user depending on the position of the display target range R in theprogram board B. Especially in this embodiment, in the case where theprogram board B corresponding to the full mode program AP1 is beingdisplayed, the scroll control section 25 changes the amount by which thedisplay target range R is moved in response to the scroll instructionbased on whether or not a predetermined range in the program board B isincluded in the display target range R. Note that, the predeterminedrange here is a range including the program information region P1. Inthis embodiment, the size of the program information region P1 isidentical with the size of the board display region Ab. Therefore, thelength of the program information region P1 along the Y-axis direction(that is, the direction of the scroll instruction) corresponds to thelength of the display target range R along the Y-axis direction.

Specifically, while the program information region P1 is not included inthe display target range R, the scroll control section 25 moves thedisplay target range R by the movement amount corresponding to an amountspecified by the scroll instruction. Note that, the amount specified inthe scroll instruction may be a value that corresponds to the amount ofoperation performed by the user, for example, the distance by which thefinger of the user moved on the detection surface of the touch sensor 15when the user performs the slide operation. Alternatively, the amountmay be a value calculated based on the speed at which the user moveshis/her finger or the strength with which the user presses the detectionsurface instead of, or in addition to, the amount of operation.Alternatively, the amount may be a value corresponding to the number oftimes the user has performed operation satisfying predeterminedconditions. For example, in a case where the specified amount of thescroll instruction is the distance by which the finger of the user ismoved in the slide operation, the display target range R moves in theprogram board B by the distance by which the finger of the user ismoved. On the other hand, in the case where the operation of the scrollinstruction performed by the user is such scroll instruction that theprogram information region P1 is included in the display target range R,the scroll control section 25 moves the display target range R so as toinclude the entire program information region P1. As a result, at thetime when the scroll instruction is complete, the display target range Ris always moved to one of a position at which the entire programinformation region P1 is included and a position at which the programinformation region P1 is not included at all and only the communicationregion P2 is included, to thereby avoid a case where the display targetrange R is stopped at a position that straddles from the programinformation region P1 to the communication region P2 (that is, aposition at which both a part of the program information region P1 and apart of the communication region P2 are included). Here, the programinformation region P1 is designed so as to be displayed on the screen Sin its entirety. Therefore, by performing such scroll control, it ispossible to ensure that the program information region P1 is displayedas intended by the designer.

Further, in a case where the scroll instruction performed by the user isa scroll instruction for such specified amount that the programinformation region P1 is included at a predetermined ratio or more withrespect to the entire display target range R, the scroll control section25 may move the display target range R so as to include the entireprogram information region P1. In this case, when the scroll instructionhas such specified amount that the program information region P1 isincluded at a ratio less than the predetermined ratio with respect tothe entire display target range R, the scroll control section 25 may beconfigured not to perform the scroll control (that is, the displaytarget range R is not moved from the position before the scrollinstruction).

After the user finishes the slide operation and releases his/her fingerfrom the touch sensor 15, the scroll control section 25 may determinethe position of the display target range R after the scroll depending onthe operation amount of the slide operation performed before the fingeris released, to thereby execute the scroll control so that the displaytarget range R is moved to the determined position. Alternatively, evenduring the slide operation when the user still keeps his/her finger withthe touch sensor 15, the scroll control may be performed so that thedisplay target range R is moved depending on the movement of the contactposition of the finger. In this case, when the completion of the scrollinstruction is received (that is, when the user releases his/her fingerfrom the detection surface of the touch sensor 15), the scroll controlsection 25 further moves the display target range R depending on theposition of the display target range R at that time point. Specifically,in a state in which the scroll instruction is being received (that is, astate in which the user moves his/her finger while keeping the finger incontact with the detection surface of the touch sensor 15), for example,the scroll control section 25 moves the display target range R by themovement amount corresponding to the specified amount of the scrollinstruction irrespective of the position of the display target range R.Then, in a case where the program information region P1 is included atthe predetermined ratio or more in the display target range R when thecompletion of the scroll instruction is received (that is, in a casewhere a scroll instruction for such specified amount that the programinformation region P1 is included at the predetermined ratio or morewith respect to the entire display target range R is given by the user),the scroll control section 25 further moves the display target range Rso as to include the entire program information region P1. This way, theuser may perform the scroll instruction half way while verifying how theprogram information region P1 is gradually displayed on the screen S,and release his/her finger from the detection surface of the touchsensor 15 at a time point when a considerable part of the programinformation region P1 is included in the board display region Ab, tothereby display the entire program information region P1 in the screen Swithout giving the scroll instruction with such specified amount thatthe entire program information region P1 is included. Note that, in thiscase, when the program information region P1 is included at a ratio lessthan the predetermined ratio in the display target range R when the userreleases the finger, the scroll control section 25 is configured toreturn the display target range R, which has been moved halfway in thescroll instruction, to the position at which the program informationregion P1 is not included. This way, it is possible to prevent thescroll from being stopped in a state in which the program informationregion P1 is only partly included in the board display region Ab.

Further, in the state in which the entire program information region P1is displayed as the board image Ib, even when such scroll instruction asto include the communication region P2 is received, the scroll controlsection 25 may change the method of the scroll control depending onwhether the scroll instruction has such specified amount that thecommunication region P2 is included in the display target range R at thepredetermined ratio or more. Specifically, when the received scrollinstruction has such specified amount that the communication region P2is included at the predetermined ratio or more, the scroll controlsection 25 is configured to move the display target range R to aposition at which none of the program information region P1 is included(that is, only the communication region P2 is included). On the otherhand, when the received scroll instruction has such specified amountthat the communication region P2 is included in the display target rangeR at the ratio less than the predetermined ratio, the scroll controlsection 25 is configured to return the display target range R to theoriginal position at which only the program information region P1 isdisplayed.

Note that, the above-mentioned determination as to whether or not thecertain subregion is included at the predetermined ratio or more may bemade based on, when the display target range R is moved along the scrolldirection by the movement amount corresponding to the specified amountof the scroll instruction, whether or not a coordinate value (here, Ycoordinate value) indicating the position of the display target range Rwith respect to the program board B is within a predetermined range.

Specific examples of the above-mentioned scroll control are describedwith reference to FIGS. 11A to 11F. Note that, the figures eachillustrate a state in which a part of the program board B illustrated inFIG. 6 is displayed on the screen S as the board image Ib, and thebroken arrow of the figures indicate a movement path of the finger ofthe user on the detection surface.

First, in the state in which the program information region P1 isdisplayed as the board image Ib as illustrated in FIG. 8, it is assumedthat the user performs the slide operation in the positive Y-axisdirection. At this time, while the user keeps his/her finger in contactwith the detection surface, the display target range R is moved in theprogram board B in the negative Y-axis direction by the same amount asthe movement amount of the finger of the user. This way, as illustratedin FIG. 11A, the contents at the upper end of the communication regionP2 is gradually displayed in the board display region Ab. Here, when thepredetermined ratio is 50%, in the state of FIG. 11A, the contents ofthe communication region P2 are not displayed to occupy the lower halfof the board display region Ab. Therefore, when the user releaseshis/her finger in this state, the display target range R returns to theposition corresponding to the program information region P1 again toredisplay the board image Ib illustrated in FIG. 8. On the contrary, theuser moves his/her finger further in the positive Y-axis direction fromthe state of FIG. 11A to result in a state as illustrated in FIG. 11B,in which the communication region P2 occupies more than a half of theboard display region Ab. In this state, when the user releases thefinger to complete the scroll instruction, the scroll control section 25further moves the display target range R to the position at which theprogram information region P1 is not included. As a result, asillustrated in FIG. 11C, the board display region Ab displays the upperend portion of the communication region P2.

In this state, when the user performs the slide operation further in thepositive Y-axis direction, the scroll control section 25 moves thedisplay target range R by an amount corresponding to the operationamount of the slide operation (that is, operation amount of the fingeron the detection surface). This way, the user may browse informationcontained below in the program board B at will. FIG. 11D illustrates howthe scroll control is performed through the slide operation in thecommunication region P2.

Further, when the user performs the slide operation of moving his/herfinger in the negative Y-axis direction in the state illustrated in FIG.11C, the display target range R is moved in the positive Y-axisdirection while the user keeps the finger in contact with the detectionsurface, and the program information region P1 is displayed graduallyfrom the bottom side in the board display region Ab to result in thestate of FIG. 11E. When the user releases the finger in this state, theprogram information region P1 is not included in the display targetrange R at a ratio of 50% or more, and hence the display of the screen Sreturns to the state illustrated in FIG. 11C. On the contrary, a case isassumed where the user slides his/her finger further in the positiveY-axis direction so that the contents of the program information regionP1 are displayed in the board display region Ab to reach the stateillustrated in FIG. 11F, and then the user releases the finger. In thiscase, the display target range R is further moved in the positive Y-axisdirection, and the entire program information region P1 is displayed inthe board display region Ab again as illustrated in FIG. 8.

Note that, in the above description, with the program information regionP1 being one unit region, the scroll control is performed to resulteither in a state in which the entire unit region is displayed in theboard display region Ab or in a state in which none of the unit regionis displayed in the board display region Ab. However, the program boardB may include a plurality of unit regions to be subjected to suchcontrol in succession. Also in this case, when a scroll instruction tonewly include a partial range of any of the unit regions in the displaytarget range R is received, the scroll control section 25 may move thedisplay target range R so as to include the entire unit region in thedisplay target range R. This way, the scroll control may be performed toresult either in a state in which each unit region is displayed in itsentirety in the board display region Ab, or in a state in which none ofthe unit region is displayed in the board display region Ab. Therefore,it is possible to prevent the scrolling from being stopped in the statein which only a part of any unit region is displayed in the boarddisplay region Ab. Note that, the unit region in this case is a regionof such size that at least its length along the direction of the scrollinstruction (Y-axis direction) corresponds to the length of the displaytarget range R along the Y-axis direction.

Alternatively, the scroll control section 25 may move, when the scrollinstruction for such specified amount that a border position of aplurality of subregions included in the program board B is included, thedisplay target range R by a movement amount that is determined based onthe relationship between the border position and the position of thedisplay target range R after the movement by the movement amountcorresponding to the specified amount. Specifically, when the scrollinstruction for such movement amount that the border position isincluded in a predetermined range (for example, range in the vicinity ofthe center) in the display target range R is received, the scrollcontrol section 25 may be configured to move the display target range Rfurther so as to position the border position outside the predeterminedrange. Further, the display target range R may be moved so that theborder position is aligned with the periphery of the display targetrange R. The scroll control based on the above-mentioned unit region isalso scroll control that aligns the border position between the programinformation region P1 and the communication region P2 with the peripheryof the display target range R. Alternatively, the scroll control section25 may move the display target range R so as to position the borderposition closer to the center of the display target range R by apredetermined distance from the periphery of the display target range R.In this case, only the end portions close to the border position ofadjacent subregions are included in the display target range R.

Note that, as illustrated in FIGS. 11A to 11F, in this embodiment, thescroll control section 25 subjects only display elements arranged in theprogram board B to the scroll control, and does not subject thebackground image Iw to the scroll control. That is, even when the scrollcontrol section 25 scrolls the images displayed in the board displayregion Ab, the display position of the background image Iw does notchange. Therefore, it becomes easier for the user to visualize theimages after switching when the above-mentioned image switchingoperation is performed to switch the board image Ib. This is furtherdescribed below.

In this embodiment, an instruction in the direction (X-axis direction)intersecting the direction of the scroll instruction (Y-axis direction)is the direction of the instruction to switch the board image Ib.Therefore, when the user visualizes how the switching target images arearranged in the X-axis direction as illustrated in FIG. 10, the imageswitching operation is facilitated. However, in a case where theswitching target images are images indicating a part of the displayregion extending in the Y-axis direction, when the scroll control alongthe Y-axis direction is performed, it becomes harder to directlyvisualize the image array as illustrated in FIG. 10. Specifically, it isassumed that, for example, information illustrated in FIG. 9A is storedin the selected order storage region M, and an image showing the insideof a program board Bb corresponding to the program APb is displayed asthe board image Ibb. Here, if the same board image Ibc is displayed in acase where a program information region P1 b of the program board Bb isfirst displayed, and then, without scrolling, the image switchingoperation is performed to display the board image Ibc showing the insidea program board Bc corresponding to the program APc, and in a case wherethe scroll is performed to display images in a communication region P2 bof the program board Bb, and then the image switching operation isperformed to display the board image Ibc, it becomes harder for the userto understand the spatial relation between the program board Bbcorresponding to the program APb and the program board Bc correspondingto the program APc. Nevertheless, if the display target range R in theprogram board Bc is moved with the movement of the display target rangeR in the program board Bb, when the image switching operation isperformed, the board image Ib showing a place in the program board Bcthat is not intended by the user may be displayed. Therefore, in thisembodiment, the range (initial display range) in the program board B tobe displayed as the board image Ib when the image switching operation isperformed is a predetermined range irrespective of whether or not thedisplay target range R is moved by the scroll control before the imageswitching operation. By thus preventing the display position of thebackground image Iw from being changed even by the scroll control, evenwhen such scroll control is performed, it becomes possible for the userto visualize a background image Iwc of the program board Bc and abackground image Iwb of the program board Bb as being arranged in thedirection along the image switching operation (X-axis direction) asillustrated in FIG. 10. Therefore, the user may perform a scrolloperation specifying a direction along the Y-axis direction and theimage switching operation specifying a direction along the X-axisdirection naturally.

Note that, the initial display range in the program board B included inthe board image Ib to be displayed when the image switching operation isperformed may be a fixed position range (hereinafter, referred to as adefault range), for example, a range at the top end of the program boardB (the program information region P1 in the case of the full modeprogram AP1). FIG. 12 illustrates an example of the screen S includingthe board image Ib to be displayed as a result of the image switchingoperation in this case. This figure illustrates a display example in acase where, in a state in which the data illustrated in FIG. 9A isstored in the selected order storage region M and the board image Ibshowing the inside of the program board B corresponding to the programAPa is displayed, the image switching operation specifying the positiveX-axis direction is performed. In this case, even when the imageswitching operation is performed in the state in which, for example, theboard image Ib showing the inside of the program information region P1as illustrated in FIG. 8 is displayed, or when the image switchingoperation is performed in the state in which the board image Ib showingthe inside of the communication region P2 as illustrated in FIG. 11C isdisplayed, the board image display control section 22 displays the boardimage Ib showing the inside of the default range (here, the programinformation region P1) of the program board B corresponding to theprogram APc on the screen S as illustrated in FIG. 12. In other words,regardless of which range in the program board B corresponding to theprogram APa is displayed on the screen S, the same position in theprogram board B corresponding to the program APc is displayed as theboard image Ib after the image switching.

Further, when the image showing the inside of the program board B to beredisplayed was displayed previously as the board image Ib, the initialdisplay range after the image switching operation may be a range in theprogram board B displayed most recently. In this case, when the imageswitching operation is performed, the image switching section 24 storesthe position of the display target range R in the program board Bdisplayed immediately before the image switching. When the program boardB is selected to be redisplayed as the board image Ib as a result of theimage switching operation, the board image Ib is generated based on thestored position of the display target range R.

Alternatively, the initial display range may be determined depending onthe subregion in the program board B that has been displayed until theimage switching operation is performed. Specifically, in thisembodiment, for any full mode program AP1, the program board Bcorresponding to the full mode program AP1 is configured to include twosubregions: the program information region P1; and the communicationregion P2. Then, in a case where the image switching operation from, forexample, the board image Ibc showing the inside of the program board Bcof the program APc to the board image Ibb showing the inside of theprogram board Bb of the program APb is performed, when a programinformation region P1 c of the program board Bc has been displayedimmediately before the image switching operation, the programinformation region P1 b of the program board Bb, which is a subregioncorresponding to the program information region P1 c (here, a subregionincluding the same kind of information as that of the programinformation region P1 c), is displayed. Further, when a communicationregion P2 c of the program board Bc has been displayed immediatelybefore the image switching operation, a range at the top end of thecommunication region P2 c of the program board Bb, which is a subregioncorresponding to the communication region P2 c, is displayed after theimage switching operation. This makes it easy to display the subregions,in which the same kind of information is displayed, in a switchingmanner among a plurality of program boards B as the targets of the imageswitching operation. Note that, in this embodiment, the program board Bincludes two subregions. However, the present invention is not limitedthereto, and the plurality of program boards B may each include aplurality of mutually corresponding subregions so that the subregionsare displayed in a switching manner.

Here, the way of determining the initial display range after the imageswitching operation may be changed depending on the instructionpreviously given by the user. For example, the information processingapparatus 10 may prompt the user to select which of the default range,the range of the program board B displayed most recently, and a rangethat is determined depending on the subregion of another program board Bthat has been displayed immediately before the image switching, is to beset as the initial display range after the image switching.

The symbol image display section 26 displays a predetermined number ofsymbol images Is on the screen S. Here, the number of the symbol imagesIs displayed by the symbol image display section 26 may be a numbercorresponding to the upper limit of the images as the targets forswitching by the image switching section 24. As described above, in thisembodiment, the upper limit N of the program IDs stored in the selectedorder storage region M is 7, and accordingly, at most seven board imagesIb become the targets for switching by the image switching section 24.Therefore, the symbol image display section 26 displays at least sevensymbol images Is. Further, the symbol image display section 26 displays,of the symbol images Is, the same number of symbol images Is as that ofthe board images Ib as the targets for switching by the image switchingsection 24 in a manner that is different from the other symbol imagesIs. Specifically, for example, when the information illustrated in FIG.9A is stored in the selected order storage region M, three board imagesIb become the targets for switching by the image switching section 24.In this case, the symbol image display section 26 displays the threesymbol images Is in a manner that is different from the other foursymbol images Is. Here, the three symbol images Is are the symbol images(hereinafter, referred to as board-corresponding symbol images Isb)corresponding to the three board images Ib which are targets of theswitching by the image switching section 24, and the other four symbolimages Is are symbol images (hereinafter, referred to asnon-corresponding symbol images Isn) that do not correspond to the boardimages Ib. Displaying the symbol images Is in this way allows the userto understand how many board images Ib are currently the targets forswitching by the image switching section 24, and how many more boardimages Ib may be added to the targets for switching by the imageswitching section 24 before reaching the upper limit N (=7). Forexample, when four non-corresponding symbol images Isn are displayed,four more board images Ib may be added to the targets for imageswitching. As described above, when an attempt is made to store a newprogram ID in the state in which the same number of the program IDs asthe upper limit N are stored in the selected order storage region M, theprogram ID stored least recently in the selected order storage region Mis deleted. As a result, the board image Ib corresponding to the deletedprogram ID is excluded from the targets for switching by the imageswitching section 24. Therefore, the user may select a new menu itemimage Ic while verifying the symbol images Is, to thereby prevent theboard images Ib displayed previously from being excluded unintendedlyfrom the targets for switching by the image switching section 24.

Note that, the board-corresponding symbol images Isb may be imagesrepresenting the corresponding board images Ib. In this case, eachboard-corresponding symbol image Isb is displayed in a manner that isnot only different from the non-corresponding symbol images Isn but alsodifferent from the other board-corresponding symbol images Isb.Alternatively, each board-corresponding symbol image Isb may bedisplayed in the same manner as the other board-corresponding symbolimages Isb. Further, each non-corresponding symbol image Isn may bedisplayed in the same manner as the other non-corresponding symbolimages Isn. Further, in this embodiment, the menu image Im is also atarget for the image switching by the image switching section 24.Therefore, the symbol image display section 26 may also display a symbolimage Is (hereinafter, referred to as menu-corresponding symbol imageIsm) corresponding to the menu image Im. In this case, the symbol imagedisplay section 26 displays eight symbol images Is at the same time. Inthis case, the menu-corresponding symbol image Ism is displayed in amanner that is at least different from the non-corresponding symbolimages Isn. Further, the menu-corresponding symbol image Ism may be aunique image which represents the menu image Im and is displayed in amanner that is also different from the board-corresponding symbol imagesIsb. Alternatively, the menu-corresponding symbol image Ism may bedisplayed as a type of target images for image switching by the imageswitching section 24 in the same manner as the board-correspondingsymbol images Isb.

Further, the symbol images Is may be displayed on the screen S in astate in which the symbol images Is are arranged along the direction ofthe image switching operation (here, X-axis direction). Then, the symbolimages Is are displayed in a manner corresponding to the virtual arrayof the menu image Im and the board images Ib as illustrated in FIG. 10,and hence it becomes easier for the user to understand what isrepresented by each of the symbol images Is.

In this embodiment, as described above, eight symbol images Is aredisplayed in the status bar display region As. In the case where thesymbol images Is are displayed together with the board images Ib and themenu image Im on the screen, the symbol image Is corresponding to theboard image Ib or the menu image Im that is currently being displayed onthe screen S may be displayed in a manner that is distinguishable fromothers. In other words, the symbol image display section 26 may changethe way each of the plurality of board-corresponding symbol images Isband the menu-corresponding symbol image Ism is displayed depending onwhether or not the corresponding menu image Im or board image Ib isdisplayed in the board display region Ab, to thereby display the symbolimage Is corresponding to the board image Ib or the menu image Im thatis being displayed in a manner that is distinguishable from others.Specifically, for example, the symbol image display section 26 changesthe size or lightness of the symbol image Is corresponding to the imagethat is being displayed or adds a predetermined image (for example,image representing a frame border) indicating correspondence with theimage that is being displayed to the symbol image Is, to thereby displaythe symbol image Is corresponding to the image that is being displayedin a manner that is distinguishable from others. This allows the user tounderstand the virtual positional relationship between the image that iscurrently being displayed and the other switching target images bybrowsing the symbol images Is.

As an example, FIG. 5 illustrates the way the symbol images Is aredisplayed in a case where the menu image Im is displayed and no boardimage Ib has been displayed (that is, there is no board image Ib as atarget for switching by the image switching section 24). In this case,only the symbol image Is which is located at the left end as seen fromthe user and corresponds to the menu image Im is displayed in a mannerthat indicates correspondence with the image that is currently beingdisplayed (specifically, displayed in a color or shape that is differentfrom the other symbol images Is, for example). On the other hand, theremaining seven symbol images Is are displayed in a manner thatindicates no correspondence with the menu image Im or the board image Ib(for example, displayed in a predetermined color). Further, FIG. 8illustrates the way the symbol images Is are displayed in a case whereonly the board image Ib as the switching target is the image that iscurrently being displayed. Here, the second symbol image Is from theleft corresponding to the board image Ib that is currently beingdisplayed is displayed in a manner that is different from the othersymbol images Is, and the symbol image Is at the left end correspondingto the menu image Im that is the target for switching by the imageswitching section 24 is also displayed in a manner that is differentfrom the other six symbol images Is (the non-corresponding symbol imagesIsn that do not correspond to any images).

Further, FIG. 12 illustrates an example of the way the symbol images Isare displayed in a case where the information illustrated in FIG. 9A isstored in the selected order storage region M and the board image Ibccorresponding to the program APc is displayed in the board displayregion Ab. In this case, as with the example of FIG. 8, the third symbolimage Is from the left corresponding to the board image Ibc that iscurrently being displayed is displayed in a manner that is differentfrom the other symbol images Is, and the three symbol images Iscorresponding to the other three images as the targets for switching bythe image switching section 24 (that is, the menu image Im, the boardimage Ibb, and the board image Iba) are also displayed in a manner thatis different from the remaining four symbol images Is. This allows theuser to understand by browsing the symbol images Is that four moreimages may be added to the targets for switching by the image switchingsection 24, that the image switching operation in the negative X-axisdirection may be performed one more time, and that the menu image Im isdisplayed when the image switching operation in the positive X-axisdirection is performed two more times.

Further, FIG. 13 illustrates a display example of the symbol images Isthat is different from the display in the status bar display region Asas described above. In the example of this figure, the symbol imagedisplay section 26 switches the display contents in response to apredetermined operation by the user (for example, operation of pressingthe operation button 16) to erase the board image Ib or the menu imageIm that has been displayed in the board display region Ab and display atotal of eight symbol images Is in the board display region Ab. In theexample of this figure, the symbol images Is are rectangular regionsextending along the Y-axis direction and are arranged along the X-axisdirection. Of the symbol images Is, the board-corresponding symbolimages Isb corresponding to the board images Ib as the targets forswitching by the image switching section 24 include images relating tothe board images Ib corresponding to the board-corresponding symbolimages Isb, respectively. Specifically, in the example of FIG. 13, theboard-corresponding symbol images Isb include the menu item images Ic ofthe corresponding application programs AP. Further, theboard-corresponding symbol images Isb include parts of the backgroundimages Iw included in the board images Ib as their background images,respectively. Note that, the board-corresponding symbol images Isb mayinclude parts of the corresponding board images Ib themselves instead ofthe background images Iw. Further, each of the board-correspondingsymbol images Isb includes a pin image Ip. The pin image Ip is an imageindicating whether or not the board image Ib corresponding to theboard-corresponding symbol image Isb is in the display terminationrestriction state. Note that, the display termination restriction stateis described later. On the contrary, each of the four non-correspondingsymbol images Isn on the right that do not correspond to any boardimages Ib as the switching targets includes a circular image containingnothing to indicate the non-corresponding symbol images Isn. Further,the background image in the non-corresponding symbol images Isn may be apredetermined default image. Note that, the menu-corresponding symbolimage Ism which is located at the left end and corresponds to the menuimage Im does not have any corresponding menu item images Ic, and henceapart of the background image of the menu image Im is simply displayed.

Note that, in the display example of the symbol images Is illustrated inFIG. 13, the user may tap the display position of each symbol image Isto instruct the image switching. In this case, the menu image Im or theboard image Ib corresponding to the tapped symbol image Is is displayedin the board display region Ab. In addition, when the user bringshis/her finger into contact with the display position of any of thesymbol images Is, the display range of the symbol image Is istemporarily enlarged with respect to the other symbol images Is so thata wider range of, for example, the background image Iw may be verified.Further, when the user moves the finger on the detection surface in thatstate, the focus may move sequentially to the symbol image Is containingthe position to which the finger is moved to enlarge the display rangeof the symbol image Is in focus. Note that, in a case where theinformation processing apparatus 10 according to this embodimentincludes directional keys such as cursor keys, the selection operationof the symbol image Is may be performed by using the directional keys.In this case, the user operates the directional keys to shift the focuson the symbol image Is and select the menu image Im or the board imageIb to be displayed. In this example, when a shift is made from the statein which the menu image Im or the board image Ib has been displayed tothe screen displaying the symbol images Is in response to the user'sinstruction, the symbol images Is may be displayed in a state in whichthe symbol image Is corresponding to the menu image Im or the boardimage Ib that has been displayed is in focus.

Further, in the display example of FIG. 13, instead of displaying eightsymbol images Is in the board display region Ab, only the symbol imagesthat are in the same number as and represent the menu image Im and theboard images Ib as the targets for switching by the image switchingsection 24 are displayed in the status bar display region As. Note that,the symbol images may be displayed in the status bar display region Asin the same manner also in the other display examples of the screen S.

The program activation section 27 executes processing of activating anapplication program AP in response to the instruction operation by theuser. Specifically, as described above, when the user selects a menuitem image Ic corresponding to the light program AP2 in the state inwhich the menu image Im is displayed, the program activation section 27performs processing of activating the light program AP2. When the userperforms an operation of tapping the activation button image IL in thestate in which a board image Ib corresponding to a full mode program AP1is displayed, the program activation section 27 performs processing ofactivating the full mode program AP1.

Further, when a user's operation on a predetermined display element in aboard image Ib is received in a state in which the board image Ib isdisplayed, the program activation section 27 may execute the processingof activating the application program AP associated with the displayelement. For example, there may be a case where, in the programinformation region P1 of a program board B corresponding to a full modeprogram AP1, an image representing a link to a web page displayinginformation relating to the full mode program AP1. When the userperforms an operation of tapping such image representing the link, theprogram activation section 27 activates a browser program and providesthe browser program with information (such as URL) associated with thetapped image as, for example, activation parameters. As a result, theboard image Ib representing the processing result of the browser programis newly generated to be displayed in the board display region Ab.

When an instruction is given to activate a program other than theapplication program AP corresponding to the board image Ib in the statein which the board image Ib as described above, the selected ordermanagement section 23 may manage the program ID of the program activatedin response to such activation instruction in association with theprogram ID of the program corresponding to the old board image Ib. As aspecific example, it is assumed that, in the state in which the boardimage Ib corresponding to the program APa is displayed, the program APbis newly activated in response to the user's operation. In this case,the selected order management section 23 stores parent-childrelationship information associating the board image Ib corresponding tothe program APa as a calling image (parent image) and the board image Ibcorresponding to the program APb as a called image (child image). Asdescribed above, when an attempt is made to display the number of boardimages Ib exceeding the upper limit N, the selected order managementsection 23 deletes any of the program IDs that is determined based onpredetermined conditions. Similarly, when the user performs a displaytermination operation to be described later, the selected ordermanagement section 23 deletes the program ID corresponding to the boardimage Ib that is subjected to the display termination operation.However, the selected order management section 23 may refer to theparent-child relationship information to restrict deletion of apredetermined program ID. Specifically, for example, even when a programID corresponding to one child image satisfies the conditions as thetarget for deletion, when a program ID corresponding to a board image Ibassociated as the parent image with respect to the child image stillremains in the selected order storage region M, the selected ordermanagement section 23 may select a deletion target from the otherprogram IDs instead of deleting the program ID corresponding to thechild image. On the contrary, even when a program ID corresponding toone parent image satisfies the conditions as the target for deletion,when the program ID corresponding to the board image Ib which is a childimage of the parent image is not deleted, the selected order managementsection 23 may select a deletion target from the other program IDsinstead of deleting the program ID corresponding to the parent image.

Next, display termination processing and display termination restrictionprocessing for a board image Ib are described. As described above, whenthe number of menu item images Ic exceeding the predetermined upperlimit N are selected, the board images Ib corresponding to the menu itemimages Ic selected previously are excluded from the targets forswitching by the image switching section 24 in order from the oldest.However, there may be other cases where the user explicitly wants toterminate the display of the board image Ib that he or she caused to bedisplayed. Therefore, when the user performs a predetermined displaytermination operation in the state in which any of the board images Ibis displayed, the board image display control section 22 terminates thedisplay of the board image Ib, and the selected order management section23 deletes the program ID corresponding to the board image Ib from theselected order storage region M. This excludes the board image Ib fromthe targets for switching by the image switching section 24. Note that,when the display of the board image Ib is to be terminated, as in thecase where an image switching operation in a predetermined direction(for example, positive X-axis direction) is performed when the boardimage Ib for which the display is to be terminated is displayed, theboard image display control section 22 redisplays the board image Ib orthe menu image Im corresponding to the program ID stored in the selectedorder storage region M subsequent to the program ID corresponding to theboard image Ib for which the display is to be terminated.

On the other hand, the board images Ib as the targets for switching bythe image switching section 24 may include the one for which the userdoes not want to terminate the display. For such board image Ib, theuser may perform an instruction operation for restricting thetermination of the display of the board image Ib in order to prevent thedisplay from being terminated when the user performs the above-mentioneddisplay termination operation by mistake or selects the number of menuitem images Ic exceeding the predetermined upper limit N. Specifically,when a predetermined display termination restriction operation isreceived from the user, the board image display control section 22transitions to a state of restricting the termination of the display ofthe board image Ib on which the operation is performed. That is, inresponse to a request from the board image display control section 22,the selected order management section 23 updates the value of thedisplay termination restriction flag associated with the program IDcorresponding to the board image Ib on which the operation is performedto a value indicating that the display termination is restricted.Thereafter, even when the display termination operation on the boardimage Ib is received, the board image display control section 22 doesnot execute the display termination processing. Further, when a new menuitem image Ic is selected in a state in which the same number of theprogram IDs as the upper limit N are stored in the selected orderstorage region M, the selected order management section 23 determines,of the program IDs having the value of the display terminationrestriction flag indicating that the display termination is notrestricted, the program ID stored least recently in the selected orderstorage region M, and deletes the program ID from the selected orderstorage region M. As a specific example, when a new menu item image Icis selected in a state in which the information illustrated in FIG. 9Cis stored in the selected order storage region M, of the program IDsstored in the selected order storage region M, the program ID (programAPc) stored least recently in the selected order storage region M isassociated with the flag value indicating that the display terminationis restricted, and hence the display of the board image Ibccorresponding to the program APc is not terminated. Instead, the programAPb, which is the program ID stored next to the program APc in theselected order storage region M, is deleted.

Here, the display termination operation is an operation of specifying,in a state in which the board image Ib as an operation target isdisplayed in the board display region Ab, a first direction with respectto a predetermined operation target region Ac. Specifically, in thisembodiment, the display termination operation is a slide operation ofspecifying a diagonal lower left direction with respect to the operationtarget region Ac provided at the upper right corner of the board displayregion Ab (that is, direction from the operation target region Ac towardthe center of the screen S). Further, the display termination operationis a slide operation from one point inside the operation target regionAc as a start point toward the outside of the operation target regionAc.

Further, the display termination restriction operation is an operationof specifying, in the state in which the board image Ib as the operationtarget is displayed in the board display region Ab, a second directionthat is different from the first direction, which is the directionspecified by the display termination operation, with respect to the sameoperation target region Ac as that of the display termination operation.Specifically, in this embodiment, the display termination restrictionoperation is a slide operation of specifying a diagonal upper rightdirection, which is the opposite direction from the direction specifiedby the display termination operation, with respect to the operationtarget region Ac. Further, the display termination operation is a slideoperation from the outside of the operation target region Ac toward anend point, the end point being one point in the operation target regionAc.

As described above, the display termination operation and the displaytermination restriction operation are operations that specify adirection with respect to the same operation target region Ac.Therefore, the user is able to learn the display termination operationand the display termination restriction operation in association witheach other. Further, because the operations are operations of specifyingthe opposite directions, one of the operations is an operation performedwith the start point inside the operation target region Ac, and theother operation is an operation performed with the end point inside theoperation target region Ac, despite the fact that the operations areperformed on the same operation target region Ac, it is possible toavoid such erroneous operation as to perform one of the operations whenthe other operation is intended. Note that, in the above description,the display termination operation is the operation with the start pointinside the operation target region Ac and the display terminationrestriction operation is the operation with the start point outside theoperation target region Ac. However, each of the operations may be anoperation having one point inside the operation target region Ac as thestart point.

In addition, as described above, the operation position guide image Igfor guiding to the operation target region Ac is displayed on the screenS. Therefore, the user can easily grasp the position of the operationtarget region Ac. Further, in this embodiment, the operation positionguide image Ig is an image showing how the background image Iw is turnedback from the upper right corner of the board display region Ab towardthe lower left direction (that is, the direction specified by thedisplay termination operation). Therefore, the user can terminate thedisplay of the board image Ib by performing the slide operation ofstroking the screen S starting from the position as when to peel thebackground image Iw off the screen S. Note that, as illustrated in FIGS.11A to 11F and the like, even when the display target range R is movedby the scroll control section 25, the positions of the operationposition guide image Ig and the operation target region Ac in the screenS do not change. Therefore, irrespective of the scrolling state, theuser can perform the display termination operation on the operationtarget region Ac at any time to terminate the display of the board imageIb. The display position of the background image Iw in the board imageIb does not change either irrespective of the scrolling state, and henceit is possible to avoid causing discomfort to the user even though theposition of the operation position guide image Ig does not change.

In addition, when it is determined that the user has started the displaytermination operation, the board image display control section 22 maydisplay an in-operation image Ig2 indicating that the operation has beenstarted on the screen S. After the in-operation image Ig2 is displayed,when the user further executes the slide operation in the lower leftdirection, the board image display control section 22 may terminate thedisplay of the board image Ib that is being displayed. As a specificexample, when the user performs the slide operation in the lower leftdirection starting from a start point inside the operation target regionAc, the board image display control section 22 displays, while thefinger of the user is in contact with the detection surface of the touchsensor 15, the in-operation image Ig2 that gradually changes inaccordance with the operation amount of the slide operation. Then, basedon the operation amount of the slide operation at the time point whenthe user releases his/her finger, the board image display controlsection 22 judges whether or not to execute the processing ofterminating the display of the board image Ib. That is, the board imagedisplay control section 22 judges whether the operation amount of theslide operation satisfies predetermined conditions, and when thepredetermined conditions are satisfied, terminates the display of theboard image Ib. For example, when the operation amount of the slideoperation exceeds a predetermined threshold, the board image displaycontrol section 22 judges that the display termination operation iscomplete, and terminates the display of the board image Ib that is beingdisplayed. On the other hand, when the operation amount is equal to orless than the predetermined threshold, the board image display controlsection 22 judges that the display termination operation is notcomplete, and redisplays the original operation position guide image Igwithout terminating the display of the board image Ib. Alternatively,when the position of the end point of the slide operation started fromthe start point inside the operation target region Ac is a predetermineddistance or more away from a reference point inside the operation targetregion Ac (for example, point corresponding to the upper right corner ofthe board display region Ab), the board image display control section 22may judge that the completion conditions of the display terminationoperation are satisfied. This way, when the user has started the displaytermination operation by mistake, the user can be aware of the mistakebefore the display termination operation is complete. Therefore, whenthe user stops the slide operation immediately at the point when thein-operation image Ig2 is displayed, the display termination operationmay be stopped. Note that, the in-operation image Ig2 may be an imagethat is obtained by changing the operation position guide image Ig. FIG.14 is a diagram illustrating a state in which the display terminationoperation is being performed. In the example of this figure, as thein-operation image Ig2, an image showing how the background image Iw isturned back more than the operation position guide image Ig isdisplayed. In particular, the in-operation image Ig2 may be updated sothat the background image Iw is turned back even more depending on theoperation amount as the user continues the slide operation. This way,the user can intuitively understand that the display terminationoperation is going to be performed.

Further, when the display termination restriction operation isperformed, the board image display control section 22 displays an imageindicating that the target board image Ib has shifted to the state inwhich the display termination is restricted. Specifically, in thisembodiment, the board image display control section 22 displays, at thedisplay position of the operation position guide image Ig, a pin imageIp indicating the display termination restriction state. The pin imageIp is an image showing how a pin is stuck on the screen S. FIG. 15 is adiagram illustrating an example of the screen S displaying the boardimage Ib that is in the display termination restriction state. In thisfigure, the operation position guide image Ig is deleted so that thebackground image Iw is displayed also in the operation target region Ac,and a pin image Ip showing how a pin is stuck in the operation targetregion Ac is displayed. The user is expected to turn his/her eyes on thedisplay position of the operation position guide image Ig when the useris to perform the display termination operation. Therefore, bydisplaying the image indicating the display termination restrictionstate at such position, it is possible to prevent the user fromattempting to execute the display termination operation that is beingrestricted. Note that, in this case, when an operation of tapping thepin image Ip displayed in the operation target region Ac is received,the board image display control section 22 may cancel the displaytermination restriction state of the board image Ib.

The board image display control section 22 may also receive anotherdisplay termination restriction operation than the operation on theoperation target region Ac described above. For example, an imageshowing a pin that is in a state of not being stuck on the screen S maybe displayed in the program information region P1 in addition to theabove-mentioned pin images Ip, and a tap operation on the image showingthe pin may be received from the user to shift to the displaytermination restriction state. In this case, the image showing the pinis updated to the image showing how the pin is stuck as in FIG. 15, andthe display termination restriction state may be canceled when theupdated image is tapped. Further, when an operation of tapping a pinimage Ip included in a symbol image Is is received in a state in whichthe symbol image display section 26 displays the symbol images Is asillustrated in FIG. 13, the board image display control section 22 mayshift the board image Ib corresponding to the symbol image Is includingthe pin image Ip to the display termination restriction state, or cancelthe display termination restriction state. Note that, in FIG. 13, thepin image Ip in the board-corresponding symbol images Isb correspondingto the board image Ibc of the program APc is an image showing the statein which the pin is stuck, as opposed to the other pin images Ip. Thisindicates that the board image Ibc is in the display terminationrestriction state.

Described next is processing to be performed by the informationprocessing apparatus 10 in a case where the user selects the menu itemimage Ic, which corresponds to the board image Ib selected previously bythe user and hence is the target for switching by the image switchingsection 24, again in the state in which the menu image Im is displayed.In this case, the board image display control section 22 redisplays theboard image Ib corresponding to the selected menu item image Ic in theboard display region Ab. Further, the selected order management section23 rearranges the order of the program IDs in the selected order storageregion M so as to indicate that the program ID of the applicationprogram AP corresponding to the selected menu item image Ic is theapplication program AP selected most recently. For example, it isassumed that, in a state in which the information illustrated in FIG. 9Ais stored in the selected order storage region M, the user displays themenu image Im and selects a menu item image Ic representing the programAPa. In this case, contents of the data to be stored in the selectedorder storage region M are updated to the contents illustrated in FIG.18. As a result, the virtual array of the menu image Im and the boardimages Ib is changed from that illustrated in FIG. 10 to thatillustrated in FIG. 19. Therefore, when the user performs the slideoperation in the positive X-axis direction in a state in which the boardimage Iba corresponding to the program APa is displayed, the menu imageIm is redisplayed. On the contrary, when the user performs the slideoperation in the negative X-axis direction in a state in which the boardimage Iba is displayed, the board image Ibb corresponding to the programAPb is redisplayed.

Further, in a case where the symbol images Is representing the boardimages Ib are displayed in the screen S at the same time in a state inwhich the menu image Im or the board images Ib are displayed, the orderof arrangement of the symbol images Is displayed in the screen S may beupdated with the update of the order of the program IDs stored in theselected order storage region M described above. As described above,each board-corresponding symbol image Isb may be an image that isdifferent from the other board images Ib so as to represent thecorresponding board images Ib. FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating adisplay example of the board-corresponding symbol images Isb in a casewhere the information illustrated in FIG. 9A is stored in the selectedorder storage region M. The example of this figure illustrates a statein which the menu image Im is displayed in the board display region Ab,and the symbol images Is representing the menu image Im and three boardimages Ib, which are at present the targets for image switching by theimage switching section 24, are displayed in the status bar displayregion As. Specifically, of the four symbol images Is displayed in thestatus bar display region As, the image representing a home at the leftend is the menu-corresponding symbol image Ism. Further, to the right ofthe menu-corresponding symbol image Ism, the three board-correspondingsymbol images Isb representing the board image Ibb, the board image Ibc,and the board image Iba are arranged in this order. Note that, in theexample of this figure, the symbol image Is representing the image thatis currently being displayed in the board display region Ab (here, menuimage Im) may be highlighted by such a method as displaying the symbolimage Is with a lightness that is higher than those of the other symbolimages Is or adding an image representing a frame border to the symbolimage Is so as to be distinguishable from the other symbol images Isthat are not currently being displayed in the board display region Ab.

In such state, when the user taps a menu item image Ic corresponding tothe program APa, the board image Iba corresponding to the program APa isredisplayed in the board display region Ab as described above. At thistime, the symbol image display section 26 displays theboard-corresponding symbol image Isb representing the board image Iba,which was at the right end, to the immediate right of themenu-corresponding symbol image Ism. Further, when performing suchupdate of the display, the symbol image display section 26 may display amoving image representing the process in which each symbol image Is ismoved in the screen S. FIG. 21 illustrates how the board image Iba isredisplayed in the board display region Ab and the symbol images Is inthe status bar display region As are updated. In this figure, the brokenarrows represent the process steps in which the board-correspondingsymbol images Isb are moved from the state illustrated in FIG. 20. Thisway, by displaying the board-corresponding symbol images Isbrepresenting the board images Ib in a manner that is distinguishablefrom each other and by changing the order in which the symbol images Isare arranged correspondingly when the stored order in the selected orderstorage region M is changed, it is easier for the user to grasp which ofthe board images Ib will be displayed when the image switching operationis performed next time.

Note that, the information processing apparatus according to theembodiment of the present invention is not limited to that describedabove. For example, the information processing apparatus 10 may include,in place of or in addition to the touch sensor 15 provided so as tooverlap the screen S, a touch sensor on the rear surface side of thecasing of the information processing apparatus 10 (rear side withrespect to the surface on which the screen S is provided). In this case,the touch sensor on the rear surface side also includes the detectionsurface corresponding to the screen S, and the user may give the scrollinstruction or the instruction to switch the image by performing theslide operation of moving his/her finger or the like on the touchsensor.

Further, in the above description, the user performs the operation ofspecifying the direction by using the touch sensor, but the user mayspecify the direction with respect to the information processingapparatus 10 by using various other operation devices. Specifically, forexample, the user may specify the direction by dragging or a wheeloperation of a mouse, or may specify the direction by pressing adirectional key such as a cursor key. Note that, in the case where thedirection is specified by using the wheel operation of the mouse, thecursor key, or the like, the relationship between the directionspecified by the user and the scrolling direction or the image switchingdirection may be reversed from the case of the slide operation on thetouch sensor or the drag operation of the mouse. This is because,although the user specifies the direction as when to move the imagedisplayed on the screen S in the case of performing the slide operationor the drag operation of the mouse, it is common for the user to specifythe direction as when to move the view point with respect to the imagein the case of operating the cursor key or the like.

Further, by displaying a scroll bar, the information processingapparatus 10 may receive an operation performed by the user on thescroll bar by using the touch sensor or the mouse as a scroll operationof specifying a direction. In this case, the information processingapparatus 10 displays an operation target object representing the regionthat is currently being displayed (that is, the position of the displaytarget range R) in the scroll bar extending along the scroll direction.The user may perform the scroll operation by performing the slideoperation on the touch sensor 15 with the display position of theoperation target object as the start point, or dragging the operationtarget object with the mouse.

Further, in the above description, the image switching operation is anoperation of specifying a direction along the X-axis direction and thescroll operation is an operation of specifying a direction along theY-axis direction, but the direction to be specified may be otherdirections. Specifically, for example, the specified directions may beinterchanged between the image switching operation and the scrolloperation.

Further, in the above description, the number of images as the targetsfor switching by the image switching section 24 is limited to thepredetermined upper limit N or less because, when the board imagedisplay control section 22 sets a new board image Ib as the displaytarget, the image set least recently by the board image display controlsection 22 as the display target is excluded from the switching targets.However, the upper limit of the images as the targets for switching bythe image switching section 24 may be controlled by another method. Forexample, when a new menu item image Ic is selected by the user in astate in which the board images Ib that amount to the predeterminedupper limit N are already set as the switching targets, the board imagedisplay control section 22 may restrict the display of the new boardimage Ib corresponding to the selected new menu item image Ic.

Further, in the above description, the images as the targets forswitching by the image switching section 24 include one menu image Imand a plurality of board images Ib associated with respective programs,but the image switching section 24 may set other images as the switchingtargets. For example, the image switching section 24 may include apredetermined resident image in the switching targets. In the abovedescription, when the image switching operation is performed in thenegative X-axis direction from the state in which the menu image Im isdisplayed, the plurality of board images Ib are displayed in turn, andwhen, on the contrary, the slide operation is performed in the positiveX-axis direction in the state in which the menu image Im is displayed,the image switching is not performed. Accordingly, such resident imagemay be displayed on the screen S when the slide operation is performedin the positive X-axis direction in the state in which the menu image Imis displayed.

Alternatively, the image switching section 24 may display the residentimage when the image switching operation is performed in the negativeX-axis direction instead of the positive X-axis direction in the statein which the menu image Im is displayed. In this example, the menu imageIm is redisplayed when the image switching operation is performed in thepositive X-axis direction in the state in which the resident image isdisplayed, and the board image Ib associated with the menu item image Icselected most recently by the user is displayed when the image switchingoperation is performed in the negative X-axis direction in the state inwhich the resident image is displayed. Further, when the image switchingoperation is performed in the positive X-axis direction in the state inwhich the board image Ib associated with the menu item image Ic selectedmost recently by the user is displayed, the resident image is displayed.Note that, for the image switching operation between the board imagesIb, the plurality of board images Ib are switched for display in theorder that the user has selected the board images Ib every time theimage switching operation is performed similarly to the examplesdescribed above. As a result, the user visualizes the virtual imagearray as illustrated in FIG. 10 as arranging the resident image next tothe menu image Im on the right side. This way, even when the imageswitching operation is performed in the positive X-axis direction in thestate in which the board image Ib associated with the menu item image Icselected most recently by the user is displayed, the menu image Im isnot redisplayed immediately, but the resident image is displayed first.Thereafter, when the image switching operation is further repeated inthe same positive X-axis direction, the menu image Im is redisplayed.However, in this example, as with the examples described above, thestate in which the board image Ib associated with the menu item image Icselected most recently by the user is displayed is the state in whichthe menu image Im may be redisplayed with the fewest operations, andwhen the menu image Im is to be redisplayed by performing the imageswitching operation in a state in which a board image Ib associated withanother menu item image Ic selected by the user is displayed, the statein which the board image Ib associated with the menu item image Icselected most recently by the user is displayed is always gone through.Note that, the resident image here may be, for example, an image fordisplaying information or the like provided by the provider of theinformation processing apparatus 10.

Further, in the above description, the application programs AP as thetargets for displaying associated images in this embodiment are any ofthe full mode programs AP1 and the light programs AP2, but may includeother programs. Further, the application programs AP as the targets fordisplaying the associated images in this embodiment may be only thelight programs AP2. In this case, when the user gives an instruction toselect a menu item image Ic in the state in which the menu image Im isdisplayed, the light programs AP2 corresponding to the menu item imageIc selected according to the user's instruction are activatedsequentially, and the image showing the processing results is displayedas the board image Ib. In this case, based on the computer resource suchas the memory available on the information processing apparatus 10 orthe like, the number of the light programs AP2 that can be activated atthe same time is limited to a predetermined upper limit N2 or lower. Insuch case, as in the example in which the symbol images Is asillustrated in FIG. 13 are displayed based on the upper limit N of theimages as the targets for switching by the image switching section 24,the symbol image display section 26 may display the same number ofsymbol images Is as the predetermined upper limit N2 on the screen S. Atthis time, by displaying the same number of symbol images Is as thenumber of the light programs AP2 that have already been activated in amanner that is different from the other symbol images Is, the user caneasily grasp from the symbol images Is how many light programs AP2 arecurrently being activated and how many more light programs AP2 can beactivated.

Note that, in this case, when an instruction is given to activate a newlight program. AP2 in a state in which light programs AP2 that amount tothe upper limit N2 are activated, execution of the program activatedleast recently of the light programs AP2 that is being activated may beforced to terminate so that the information processing apparatus 10 maylimit the number of the light programs AP2 activated at the same time tothe upper limit N2 or less. Alternatively, the information processingapparatus 10 may store, for each of the light programs AP2 that is beingactivated, the timing at which the user accessed the light program AP2most recently, and when the instruction is made to activate the lightprograms AP2 exceeding the upper limit N2, the execution of the programhaving the oldest timing at which the program was accessed most recentlymay be forced to terminate. Note that, in those cases, the informationprocessing apparatus 10 may output, before forcing the execution of theprogram activated least recently or the program having the oldest timingat which the program was accessed most recently to terminate, a messagefor confirming the forced termination of the execution of the program bydisplaying on the screen S, for example. Then, when the user gives aresponse to the message to permit the forced termination, the executionof the program is forced to terminate in response thereto. On the otherhand, when the user does not give such response, the forced terminationof the execution of the program is stopped, and on the contrary,activation of the light program AP2 for which activation is newlyinstructed is restricted. Alternatively, in a case where the lightprograms AP2 that amount to the upper limit N2 are already activated,the activation of the new light program AP2 may be unconditionallyrestricted so that the information processing apparatus 10 may limit thenumber of the light programs AP2 activated at the same time to the upperlimit N2 or less.

Note that, the processing of displaying the symbol images and theprocessing in response to the display termination operation and thedisplay termination restriction operation described above are applicablenot only to the board images Ib associated with the programs asdescribed above, but also to an information processing apparatus forswitching various images for display. As an example, a case where suchtechnology is applied to a tab browser for displaying a plurality oftabs in a switching manner is described below. FIG. 16A is a diagramillustrating an example of a display screen of the tab browser. The tabbrowser in this example can display at most eight page images (imagesrepresenting the contents of web pages) in a switching manner, andgeneration of the number of page images exceeding eight is restricted.Corresponding to the upper limit of the page images, a total of eighttabs (symbol images) are displayed side by side horizontally in theupper part of the screen. However, not all the symbol images areassociated with the page images. Of the symbol images, the symbol imageat the left end (displayed symbol image Isc) is a symbol imagerepresenting a tab corresponding to the page image that is currentlybeing displayed. The displayed symbol image Isc indicates that thesymbol image corresponds to the displayed page image by deleting theborder line with the page image display region provided below. Further,the second to fourth symbol images from the left are page-correspondingsymbol images Isp representing tabs corresponding to page images thatare not currently being displayed. The displayed symbol image Isc andthe page-corresponding symbol images Isp each include an imagerepresenting the corresponding page image (for example, icon image orthe like). Further, in the symbol image corresponding to the page imagefor which the display termination is restricted, a pin image Ipillustrating the state in which the display termination is restricted isdisplayed. Meanwhile, the four symbol images in the right half are thenon-corresponding symbol images Isn that are not associated with anypage image, and are displayed in a manner that is different from thepage-corresponding symbol images Isp and the displayed symbol image Iscto present the fact to the user. Specifically, the symbol images do notinclude the image representing page images, to thereby indicate that thesymbol images are not associated with any page image. By displaying thefour non-corresponding symbol images Isn, the user can understand thatfour more page images can be displayed as pages available for switchingwith the tabs.

Further, FIG. 16A illustrates how the user performs the slide operationin a predetermined direction (here, upward direction) with respect tothe region in which the displayed symbol image Isc is displayed. The tabbrowser receives such slide operation in the predetermined direction asthe display termination operation to terminate the display of thedisplayed page image. FIG. 16B illustrates a display example after thedisplay termination operation is thus performed. In this example, as aresult of terminating the display of the page image corresponding to thedisplayed symbol image Isc, the number of the non-corresponding symbolimages Isn is increased by one, and the page image corresponding to thepage-corresponding symbol image Isp that has been displayed next to thedisplayed symbol image Isc is newly displayed in the page image displayregion. Note that, here, the displayed symbol image Isc is set as thetarget of the display termination operation, but one of the otherpage-corresponding symbol images Isp may be set as a target for asimilar display termination operation. In this case, the display in thepage image display region does not change, but the page imagecorresponding to the page-corresponding symbol images Isp set as theoperation target is excluded from the targets for tab switching.

Further, FIG. 17A illustrates, in a display screen similar to that ofFIG. 16A, how the slide operation is performed in a direction (here,downward direction) opposite to that of the display terminationoperation with respect to the region in which the displayed symbol imageIsc is displayed. The tab browser receives the instruction operation insuch direction that is different from the direction specified by thedisplay termination operation as the display termination restrictionoperation to transition to the state in which the display termination ofthe displayed page image is restricted. FIG. 17B illustrates the stateafter the display termination restriction operation is performed, inwhich a pin image Ip indicating that the display termination of the pageimage corresponding to the symbol image is restricted is displayed inthe displayed symbol image Isc. Note that, the display terminationrestriction operation may also be executed not only on the displayedsymbol image Isc but also on one of the other page-corresponding symbolimage Isp. Also in this example, each of the display terminationoperation and the display termination restriction operation on thesymbol images is the slide operation in which the user moves his/herfinger on the detection surface of the touch sensor provided so as tooverlap the display screen. However, the present invention is notlimited thereto, and the display termination operation and the displaytermination restriction operation may each be a drag operation of amouse or the like.

While there have been described what are at present considered to becertain embodiments of the invention, it will be understood that variousmodifications may be made thereto, and it is intended that the appendedclaims cover all such modifications as fall within the true spirit andscope of the invention.

1. An information processing apparatus, comprising: program storagemeans for storing a plurality of programs; activation means forsequentially activating the plurality of programs in response to auser's instruction; and symbol image display means for displaying apredetermined number of symbol images and displaying the same number ofsymbol images as a number of the programs activated by the activationmeans in a manner that is different from the other symbol images,wherein the activation means restricts a number of the programsexceeding the predetermined number from being activated.
 2. Theinformation processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, when anew instruction is given to execute a program in a case where thepredetermined number of programs are already activated, the activationmeans terminates execution of a program activated least recently of thepredetermined number of the programs that are already activated andactivates the program in the new instruction.
 3. The informationprocessing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, when a newinstruction is given to execute a program in a case where thepredetermined number of programs are already activated, the activationmeans terminates execution of a program having the oldest timing atwhich the program is accessed of the predetermined number of theprograms that are already activated and activates the program in the newinstruction.
 4. The information processing apparatus according to claim2, wherein the activation means outputs, before terminating theexecution of the program, a message for confirming the termination ofthe execution of the program and executes the termination of the programbased on a response given from the user to the message.
 5. Theinformation processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein theactivation means restricts activation of a new program when thepredetermined number of programs are already executed.
 6. An informationprocessing method, comprising: an activation step of sequentiallyactivating a plurality of programs in response to a user's instruction;and a symbol image display step of displaying a predetermined number ofsymbol images and displaying the same number of symbol images as anumber of the programs that are already activated in a manner that isdifferent from the other symbol images, wherein the activation stepincludes restricting a number of the programs exceeding thepredetermined number from being activated.
 7. A non-transitorycomputer-readable information storage medium having a program storedtherein, the program causing a computer to function as: program storagemeans for storing a plurality of programs; activation means forsequentially activating the plurality of programs in response to auser's instruction; and symbol image display means for displaying apredetermined number of symbol images and displaying the same number ofsymbol images as a number of the programs activated by the activationmeans in a manner that is different from the other symbol images,wherein the activation means restricts a number of the programsexceeding the predetermined number from being activated.
 8. Aninformation processing apparatus, comprising: image display means forsequentially displaying a plurality of display target images on a screenin response to a user's instruction; image switching means fordisplaying, with the plurality of display target images that are alreadydisplayed by the image display means as switching targets, an imageselected from the plurality of display target images as the switchingtargets in response to a user's instruction on the screen; and symbolimage display means for displaying a predetermined number of symbolimages and displaying the same number of symbol images as a number ofthe display target images as the switching targets for the imageswitching means in a manner that is different from the other symbolimages, wherein the image switching means restricts a number of thedisplay target images exceeding the predetermined number from being setas the switching targets.
 9. The information processing apparatusaccording to claim 8, wherein, in a case where the predetermined numberof display target images are set as the switching targets, when theimage display means displays a new display target image on the screen,the image switching means excludes, of the predetermined number ofdisplay target images as the switching targets, a display target imagedisplayed least recently by the image display means from the switchingtargets.
 10. The information processing apparatus according to claim 8,wherein, in a case where the predetermined number of display targetimages are set as the switching targets, when the image display meansdisplays a new display target image on the screen, the image switchingmeans excludes, of the predetermined number of display target images asthe switching targets, a display target image having the oldest timingat which the display target image is displayed from the switchingtargets.
 11. The information processing apparatus according to claim 9,wherein the image switching means outputs, before excluding the displaytarget image from the switching targets, a message for confirming theexclusion of the display target image from the switching targets andexcludes the display target image from the switching targets based on aresponse given from the user to the message.
 12. The informationprocessing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the image displaymeans restricts display of a new display target image that is not aswitching target when the predetermined number of display target imagesare set as the switching targets.
 13. The information processingapparatus according to claim 8, further comprising program storage meansfor storing a plurality of programs, wherein each of the plurality ofdisplay target images is an image associated with any one of theplurality of programs, and wherein the image display means displays adisplay target image associated with a program selected by the user fromthe plurality of programs on the screen.
 14. An information processingmethod, comprising: an image display step of sequentially displaying aplurality of display target images on a screen in response to a user'sinstruction; an image switching step of displaying, with the pluralityof display target images that are already displayed in the image displaystep as switching targets, an image selected from the plurality ofdisplay target images as the switching targets in response to a user'sinstruction on the screen; and a symbol image display step of displayinga predetermined number of symbol images and displaying the same numberof symbol images as a number of the display target images as theswitching targets for the image switching step in a manner that isdifferent from the other symbol images, wherein the image switching stepcomprises restricting a number of the display target images exceedingthe predetermined number from being set as the switching targets.
 15. Anon-transitory computer-readable information storage medium having aprogram stored therein, the program causing a computer to function as:image display means for sequentially displaying a plurality of displaytarget images on a screen in response to a user's instruction; imageswitching means for displaying, with the plurality of display targetimages that are already displayed by the image display means asswitching targets, an image selected from the plurality of displaytarget images as the switching targets in response to a user'sinstruction on the screen; and symbol image display means for displayinga predetermined number of symbol images and displaying the same numberof symbol images as a number of the display target images as theswitching targets for the image switching means in a manner that isdifferent from the other symbol images, wherein the image switchingmeans restricts a number of the display target images exceeding thepredetermined number from being set as the switching targets.